Electric cars – charging your car at home

If the employee is given an electric company car, then there is no benefit in kind for charging the vehicle at work. However, if you charge the electric car at home and the employer agrees to reimburses you, the cost of electric, then do not accept an estimated round sum payment as this will be deemed earnings and subject to PAYE and national insurance. Instead, work out how many Kilowatts the car uses to travel a mile. Your domestic bill will give you the cost of a kilowatt and therefore multiply these two together to give the cost per mile. Then multiple this by the number of miles you travel. The company can then pay you this ACTUAL reimbursed cost and obtain corporation tax relief on the payment and there is no benefit in kind for the employee, unlike diesel and petrol.