2 tax benefits of a company car

If you’re a business owner, does it make more sense to own a car yourself, or have the company own it?

The most cost-effective way to own the vehicle depends on variables such as its value, the percentage of business use and operating costs. Calculations are complex, so have an accountant crunch the numbers. Dean Paley, an accountant and financial planner in Burlington, Ont., says it usually makes more sense for the company to own the car when business use is at least 60%.

But if you drive a company-owned car for personal use, there are two taxable benefits:

• The standby charge: This is based on 2% of the original cost of the vehicle, plus sales tax, with another calculation for the length of time the vehicle is available to you. So a vehicle costing $30,000, available to an employee 12 months a year, would be calculated like this: 2% x 12 x $30,000. The sum, $7,200, is the taxable benefit. For leased cars, the standby charge is calculated as two-thirds of the annual lease costs, including sales tax. So for a leased car with monthly payments of $650, available all year, the calculation would be: 2/3 x $650 x 12, for a total of $5,200. To reduce the standby charge, keep personal use of the vehicle below half the kilometres driven.
• Operating cost benefit: This is based on a per-kilometre rate if the company pays for gas, maintenance and insurance. There are two ways to calculate this (both examples assume the employer pays all operating costs). The first is per kilometre, which is allowed only when personal use is under 50%. The charge for 2013 was $0.26/km. If business use is more than 50%, then the second method allows the employee to either take the default per kilometre charge, or half the standby charge.

Read more: Cost of the company car>