Buying a bike online

murph440

I have my own company and wanted to buy a bike to go to and from work on the bike to work scheme. I have noticed that the bikes on UK websites are a hell of a lot cheaper then the bikes in Irish stores.

I was planning on purchasing the bike on my company credit card and do the tax refund through the company. Does anyone know if I buy a bike from England and get a receipt from them, can I still get a refund for the bike to work scheme?

Cheers in advance

Beasty

It's your scheme and you can buy from anywhere in the EU. You need to consider the VAT position though if buyng from a UK retailer that applies UK VAT (you get it VAT free but then need to self-charge Irish VAT) - not an issue where Irish VAT is charged up-front (eg Wiggle and CRC)

Check the Cycling Wiki for more info on the scheme

cython

murph440 wrote: »

I have my own company and wanted to buy a bike to go to and from work on the bike to work scheme. I have noticed that the bikes on UK websites are a hell of a lot cheaper then the bikes in Irish stores.

I was planning on purchasing the bike on my company credit card and do the tax refund through the company. Does anyone know if I buy a bike from England and get a receipt from them, can I still get a refund for the bike to work scheme?

Cheers in advance

Assuming you meet the requirement of being a director or employee (sounds like you are the former) of a company, then you are eligible, and the company can indeed the bike from the UK, or other foreign sources. However, Irish VAT must be paid on the purchase. With some online retailers (Wiggle, CRC, for example) this isn't really an issue, as they already charge this. Others (Canyon being one, I believe) do not, and as such the bike must be bought from them with no VAT, and the employer then self accounts for the VAT revenue here upon import. More information is available on the boards wiki

schemingbohemia

Do you not have to be on PAYE to qualify? If you're a director paying self-employed income tax then I wouldn't think you qualify.

Diego Murphy

schemingbohemia wrote: »

Do you not have to be on PAYE to qualify? If you're a director paying self-employed income tax then I wouldn't think you qualify.

You're right. The scheme is only available to PAYE workers. However, i'd assume if you are going to use it to cycle to work, then you could write it off against tax, in your accounts, as a business expense.

Beasty

If you're a director you should be on PAYE. Directors are employees of companies.

The self employed well ....... employ themselves;)

Cycling to work is not a valid business expense for the self-employed. If the bike is actually used within the business (eg couriers) tax relief should be available (based on the business versus private use)

triggermortis

Murph, let me know how you get on. I'm in a similar position and when I upgrade to a new bike I want to use the C2W scheme - if it's still around then..
Anything to avoid paying tax is good to me

dayshah

If you own your own business you can just write the bike off as a business expense. Much the same as you would with a company van.

Beasty

dayshah wrote: »

If you own your own business you can just write the bike off as a business expense. Much the same as you would with a company van.

Only if it's used within the business (and then it would be the proportion of business use that qualifies - if you use it 60% for business and 40% private you would get tax relief on 60% of the cost)

jimmycrackcorm

Beasty wrote: »

Only if it's used within the business (and then it would be the proportion of business use that qualifies - if you use it 60% for business and 40% private you would get tax relief on 60% of the cost)

Non-business use could be classed as incidental the same way private use of a company laptop or phone may be.

Beasty

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Non-business use could be classed as incidental the same way private use of a company laptop or phone may be.

What's your source for this? We are talking self-employed tax rules here, not PAYE/benefit in kind rules

mambo

Beasty wrote: »

Only if it's used within the business (and then it would be the proportion of business use that qualifies - if you use it 60% for business and 40% private you would get tax relief on 60% of the cost)

Can a bike for travelling to/from work be a deductible tax expense, when
motoring expenses for journeys from your home to/from work are NOT allowable according to www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it48.pdf
which states "journeys between your home and regular place of work are treated as private and not business".

Or does Revenue apply one rule for cars, another for bikes?

mcgratheoin

mambo wrote: »

Can a bike for travelling to/from work be a deductible tax expense, when
motoring expenses for journeys from your home to/from work are NOT allowable according to www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it48.pdf
which states "journeys between your home and regular place of work are treated as private and not business".

Or does Revenue apply one rule for cars, another for bikes?

Motoring expenses are not a valid comparison though - buying a bike is more like having a company car, or using a company delivery van to get to and from work, whereas motoring expenses on a bike would equate to puncture repairs etc... (energy gels perhaps )

In both instances, it's the capital purchase of the vehicle that comes under the Revenue rules, not the ongoing running costs.

Beasty

Special rules apply to bikes - they go under the name "bike to work scheme". It's there as an incentive to stop using cars and get healthy ...

mambo

Beasty wrote: »

Special rules apply to bikes - they go under the name "bike to work scheme". It's there as an incentive to stop using cars and get healthy ...

As I understand it the bike-to-work scheme can be availed of only by employees and directors of companies, but self-employed people (e.g. sole traders) only have the option of writing off the cost of a bike and other cycling expenses against income, assuming that's allowed by Revenue.

Jawgap

I'm not a director and I don't own my own company........yet.

I did however get a BTW bike in the UK (Norn' Iron). The organisation I work for used a corporate credit card and I got the tax relief on it.

The organisation is public sector and we've been audited on it (I had to produce the bike for the auditors to verify its existence!!) and no adverse findings were made about how / where it was purchased.

Beasty

mambo wrote: »

As I understand it the bike-to-work scheme can be availed of only by employees and directors of companies, but self-employed people (e.g. sole traders) only have the option of writing off the cost of a bike and other cycling expenses against income, assuming that's allowed by Revenue.

Correct, and home to work travel is considered private with the related costs not allowable. Using the bike for business travel is fine with the related expenses allowable.

mambo

Beasty wrote: »

Correct, and home to work travel is considered private with the related costs not allowable. Using the bike for business travel is fine with the related expenses allowable.

In the thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=76995719
is is claimed that while day-to-day bicycle expenses might not be tax-deductible for travel to and from your normal place of work (this is explicitly not allowed for motor expenses by Revenue), the cost of purchasing a bicycle may be allowable.

I just got a reply from Revenue on the question of expenses:

"Expenses are due for journey between your home and regular place of work regardless of the mode of transport.
Such journeys are treated as a private expense not business."

I will ask them about purchasing a bicycle, and if that is allowable as a deductible expense.

mambo

Revenue says:

"If the bicycle is only being used to go to and from the normal place of work then no part of the cost of the bicycle is allowable"

So that's that then.