Minister McGrath announces temporary change to Benefit-in-Kind regime for vehicles in Finance Bill 2023 (Cost of Living Measures)
While the move to a CO2 based Benefit-in-Kind system, which incentivises the use of Electric Vehicles and lower emission cars, is an important element of achieving our climate targets, a significant number of employees with vehicles in the typical emissions range experienced large increases in their income tax liabilities since the start of 2023.
To address the issue, the Minister for Finance has received agreement from his government colleagues to introduce a relief of €10,000 to be applied to the Original Market Value (OMV) of cars in Category A-D in order to reduce the amount of Benefit-in-Kind payable (this is not applicable to cars in Category E).
In effect, this means that, for the purposes of calculating BIK liability, employers may reduce the OMV by €10,000. This treatment will also apply to all vans and electric vehicles. For electric vehicles, the OMV deduction of €10,000 will be in addition to the existing relief of €35,000 that is currently available for EVs, meaning that the total relief for 2023 will be €45,000.
The upper limit in the highest mileage band is amended by way of a 4,000km reduction, so that the highest mileage band is now entered into at 48,001km (see table).
These temporary measures will be retrospectively applied from 1 January 2023 and will remain in place until 31 December 2023. It is proposed to introduce the measures at Committee Stage of the Finance Bill 2023.
If you have any queries in relation to these matters, please call or email your usual CHK contact.