Double cab pickup trucks no longer classed as commercial vehicles – how does this affect tax?
October 31, 2024 by Jamie Edkins
Car changing is a big deal
Double cab pickup trucks won’t be classed as commercial vehicles from April 2025, and this will lead to huge tax increases for some owners.
The chancellor’s autumn budget has been announced, and there’s some bad news in there for pickup truck drivers. Double cab pickups will be classed as cars for tax purposes from April next year, which will have a profound effect on Benefit in Kind tax on these vehicles.
Commercial vehicles are charged a flat yearly rate for BiK tax, whereas cars are charged on a sliding scale based on emissions. Given that most double cab pickups have quite high-polluting diesel engines, this could lead to a big hike in bills for drivers.
Company car tax on double cab pickups – what’s changed?
As it stands, a double cab pickup truck with a carrying capacity of one tonne or more is classed as a light commercial vehicle, and as such if you drive a company truck you’re charged a flat rate of £3,960 for Benefit in Kind every year.
Changes brought in during the 2024 autumn budget see such vehicles classed as cars from April 2025, meaning the way drivers pay BiK will change. We have a full breakdown on how company car tax is calculated here, but in short it’s worked out based on how much CO2 the vehicle emits, and it’s expressed as a percentage of the car’s value.
Let’s say you drive a company-owned Ford Ranger with the 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine and an automatic gearbox. You do a lot of miles and as such you’ve treated yourself to the mid-range Wildtrak model, bringing the total value to £40,350.
That particular truck emits 230g/km of CO2, putting it the highest BiK bracket for company cars and as such you’ll have to pay 37% of the truck’s value per year – bringing the total bill to almost £15,000.
That’s getting on for three times the current flat rate applied to light commercial vehicles, and it’s a devastating blow for tradespeople who rely on their trucks for work.
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