Transferring a company bicycle to an employee

Generally, company owned assets which are provided for the use of employees attract a benefit in kind based on 20% of the market value. However, bicycles which are supplied to employees for home to work travel do not attract a benefit in kind. One condition for this is that the bicycles or equipment are made available generally to all employees of the employer. This does not mean that every employee has to be provided with a bicycle or equipment, just that the offer of bicycles or equipment is open to all employees if they wish to take it up.

If your employees are using bicycles for business deliveries, it may be more tax efficient for them to own these personally. Employees who use their own pedal cycle for business mileage can claim a tax free expense of 20p per mile from the employer.

Please be aware that if you transfer the bicycle to the employee for this purpose, the employee will be assessed on the higher of the market value at the time it was first made available to employee for private use, or the market value at the time of the transfer. So if you give an employee who pays tax at basic rate, a bicycle worth £500, then he will incur a tax charge of £100. Therefore, you should always consult your employee before implementing such a change.

Date published 5 Dec 2012

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.