LCAG

Four tax breaks to encourage cycling, at the tax man’s expense!

Travelling expenses
Free parking
Free breakfasts, and best of all
Cut price bikes!

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Travelling expense

Your employer can (if it chooses) pay you up to 20p per mile for cycling in the course of your job, and you would not have to pay any tax or National Insurance on the amount paid.

Allowable journeys will not include cycling to and from work, but could include cycling between different sites, or visits away from your usual place of work.

If your employer won’t pay that much (or anything at all), you can still claim tax relief at up to 20p per mile for all business mileage.

For instance, if you cycle 1,000 miles in the course of a year on business, you could claim £200 from your employer, tax free.

If your employer won’t pay anything at all, you could claim £200 tax relief from the tax man.  To claim the relief, write to your tax office at the end of the tax year (5 April) and say you are claiming ‘mileage allowance relief’.  You will need to be able to support your claim with a detailed record of the journeys making up your claim.  If you pay tax at the basic rate of 20%, you will save tax of (£200 x 20%) £40.

If, say, your employer had paid you 10p per mile for your business travel by bike, you could claim the balance of 10p per mile as mileage allowance relief.

Free parking

The provision of parking spaces for cycles is tax free

Free breakfasts

If an employer holds a designated ‘cycle to work day’ to promote cycling instead of driving to work they can provide refreshments or a meal for employees who cycled when they arrive at work. A maximum of six cyclist ‘breakfasts’ a year per employee are exempt from tax and NICs.

Cut price bikes from your friendly employer – Yes!

Unlikely as it may seem, the best place to look for a discount on a new bike could be your own employer

Click here for details of how the taxman-funded bike-to-work scheme works.