Cycling to work: gets you fit, reduces your company’s carbon footprint – and it can be a tax-free benefit! How good is that?
Editor’s Blog on tax-free cycle loan scheme
AT THE recent BMW Corporate event I went to – see Blog 592 – I bumped into an old mucker I hadn’t seen for some time: Ian Hughes.
Still as tall, still with the same sly sense of humour, I first met Ian when he was part of the corporate sales structure at Honda; Ian then moved on to become fleet director at Citroen; and has now jumped the fence to join leasing company Zenith Provecta where he’s now the commercial director.
He’s enjoying himself there – so he should be with an HQ based at Harrogate, Yourkshire – a place I love.
As you know, we love cars here; but we like bikes a lot, too. And the conversation moved onto a new scheme Zenith Provecta has supplied for its employees: a Bike to Work scheme. This got my interest.
“Bike to Work is simple. And it’s a tax efficient way of using a new bicycle through a Salary Sacrifice mechanism,” Ian told me.
“Through our Bike to Work scheme, employees can choose a new bike which we, as Zenith Provecta, buy along with any related equipment required such as lights and a helmet. The equipment is then leased back to the employee over a set re-payment period of 12 months. The scheme is cost efficient because the cost of the lease to the employee is taken from gross salary, producing tax savings.
“It’s already already generated a lot of interest. And it’s great in terms of its impact on the environment and fitness
