Double Cab Pickups
Labour has ‘revisited the fiasco from eight months ago’ by making double cab pick up trucks taxable as personal vehicles when having a payload of more than one tonne
After mass uproar caused by the Conservatives earlier this year when changing double cab pick up trucks to being treated as personal vehicles for tax purposes Labour has made further changes to the treatment of these vehicles in the Budget.
From 1 April 2025 for income tax and 6 April for corporation tax ‘the government will treat double cab pick-up vehicles (DCPUs) with a payload of one tonne [1,016 kilos] or more as cars for certain tax purposes’.
The Ford Ranger is one of the most popular pick up trucks in the UK, with each double cab model having a payload of over one tonne.
At the last u-turn the Treasury released a statement stating: ‘The government has listened carefully to views from farmers and the motoring industry on the potential impacts of the change in tax treatment.
‘The government has acknowledged that the 2020 court decision and resultant guidance update could have an impact on businesses and individuals in a way that is not consistent with the government’s wider aims to support businesses, including vital motoring and farming industries.’
The latest Budget Red Book states that ‘certain tax purposes will impact how DCPUs are treated when it comes to capital allowances, benefits in kind, and some deductions from business profits’.
However, employers who have purchased, leased, or ordered a vehicle before 6 April 2025 will be eligible to use the previous system until their lease ends, discarding the vehicle or up until 5 April 2029.
Anthony McFarlin, tax director at MHA said: ‘The Budget announcements have unfortunately revisited the fiasco from eight months ago when HMRC said that double cab pick-up vehicles (DCPUs) will be treated as cars for tax purposes.
‘This caused a huge backlash and the Conservative government at the time quickly reversed the plans.
‘The benefit in kind and capital allowance changes in particular will have a major impact on the core market buyers of these vehicles.’
Treasury u-turns on double cab pickup tax | 20 February 2024