Here's the official blurb from the Treasury's own website - in a nutshell, it's good news for people like me who are self-employed and thinking about buying a Dooper (whether hatch or clubman). I was thinking about a
JCW, but the first year savings in terms of petrol, road tax, insurance and the write-down allowances is (for me, with my mileage) probably in the region of £5-6000 on top of the price difference at the showroom! Perhaps even more, as the
JCW is over the 160g threshhold so attracts a WDA of no more than 10%. So buying the greener car becomes a no-brainer (which is after all what the Chancellor wants).
Although the threshhold for 100% first-year WDAs drops to just 110g of CO2, the Dooper stil meets that target.
Anyway, here's a cut & paste from
Budget 2008: 01
With effect from 1 April 2009 for corporation tax purposes (6 April 2009 for income tax) the capital allowance treatment of all cars will be reformed. Expenditure on cars with CO2 emissions above 160g/km will attract 10 per cent Writing Down Allowance (WDA) and expenditure on cars with CO2 emissions of 160g/km or below will attract 20 per cent WDA. Subject to State aid approval, cars leased to those in receipt of certain disability allowances will be placed in the 20 per cent main pool, regardless of their CO2 performance.
The rules which disallow a proportion of car lease rental payments will be reformed in line with the new capital allowances rules. The new disallowance will be 15 per cent of the relevant payments, applied to cars dealt with in the 10 per cent special rate pool. The Government is considering the option of applying the disallowance only to the final business user in a chain of leases.
In addition to this:
- the 100 per cent first year allowances (FYA) for the cleanest cars will be extended from 31 March 2008 to 31 March 2013 and the qualifying CO2 emissions threshold will be reduced to 110g/km;
- the 100 per cent FYA for gas re-fuelling infrastructure investment will also be extended from 31 March 2008 to 31 March 2013, and its scope expanded to include biogas infrastructure;
- company car tax rates will be increased on all but the cleanest cars emitting less than 135g CO2/km or less in 2010-11;
- the incentive to drive fewer miles will be strengthened by increasing the fuel benefit charge at least in line with the Retail Prices Index from April 2009; and
- tax-free mileage allowances (AMAPs) rates and thresholds will be maintained at current levels.