Cycle to work scheme. HELP

Thewaylander

I know, but I have seen the scheme in operation from a tax side, and I know for fact most of the people who bought bikes to cycle in mostly drive and never ever cycle they used it to try and get a cheap bike in the company i work for.

Tax fraud to me is stealing, stealing cash from the goverment, who use it fund the public sector and the rest of it... Tax fraud pretty much counts for most of the problems the goverment has with funding...

We give stealing so many different names and they have different punishments but it boils down to the same thing people are depriving another person(or goverment body in this case) of something.

cooldad

cooldad wrote:

Have you actually read the agreement you signed?
Might be a good idea.

Interesting argument - loads of us tax evading thieves around.
But OP seems to have lost interest, and still hasn't suggested he actually read the words.

diy

To summarise the HMRC rules:
- 50% of the use should be for qualifying journeys
- You don't need to keep track of it
- the test is deemed satisfied unless there is evidence to the contrary
- even if there is evidence to the contrary, you do not need to make adjustments if there is substantial qualifying use.

bails87

Thewaylander wrote:

I know, but I have seen the scheme in operation from a tax side, and I know for fact most of the people who bought bikes to cycle in mostly drive and never ever cycle

And there's nothing wrong with that There is no stipulation on how much of your commuting has to be done by bike, nothing, nada, zilch.

Unless by 'never ever cycle' you meant to add '...to work'. So you mean they're out MTBing all weekend, but never ride the bike to work. That would be against the rules.

I'm sure people do take the mick, btw, I'm just playing devil's advocate a bit. The thing is, if you ask a load of commuters, they're more likely to be commuting, on here you get the impression that everyone used the scheme for a cheap MTB.

diy

Tax fraud pretty much counts for most of the problems the government has with funding...

I think you will find its spending beyond their means which is the problem. Leading to interest charges of £2 per head per day.

The irony in the analogy that an unpaid debt is the same as theft, is that its actually a criminal offence to do so when chasing a debt: Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970

ollie_lucas1985

cooldad wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Have you actually read the agreement you signed?
Might be a good idea.

Interesting argument - loads of us tax evading thieves around.
But OP seems to have lost interest, and still hasn't suggested he actually read the words.

This is exactly what you need to do - Read it!

The people that jumped on it early (me) got a good saving, the people that jumped on it late still got a good saving, just not as good!! (unless you extend it to 5 years!)

Thewaylander

diy wrote:

Tax fraud pretty much counts for most of the problems the government has with funding...

I think you will find its spending beyond their means which is the problem. Leading to interest charges of £2 per head per day.

The irony in the analogy that an unpaid debt is the same as theft, is that its actually a criminal offence to do so when chasing a debt: Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970

True, but if you look at the national statisics we could of afforded to spend it if everyone paid the tax/VAT that was due which is a scary thought.

bails87

The global financial crisis was not caused by people getting C2W bikes and then not riding them to work.

If I buy a bike on C2W and then use it to ride to work, the govt's revenues will be no different from if I don't use it to ride to work. Except if I'm not riding I'll be driving, so I'll actually be paying more tax by not riding....

Seriously though, people are misunderstanding the rules and giving bad advice about usage and how many miles of commuting should be done by bike. Read the rules before you go out giving incorrect advice!

Thewaylander

Eh Bails i was on a general rant about tax evasion, even pointed out that its mostly sole traders

But the cycle to work scheme is one of many unweildy schemes that many many people abuse, thats the truth

supersonic

One of the problems is/was places advertising the scheme as 'get a new bike for 40% cheaper'. Many customers didn't realise how it works. And many who did abused it. Is a poor set up I think, the largest savings go to the richer people, is open to abuse, and it seems few are actually getting bikes for riding to work ie road type bikes. You'd think most people worked in quarries.

MountainMonster

Tax fraud happens all over, and does account for large amounts of deficits within governments. If you don't think a good example is of rich people having lower effective tax rates compared to working class people. That is tax fraud in the purest form, and causes huge problems for governments, as the people who should be paying lower taxes get taxed higher, and higher paid millionaires end up paying less.

benpinnick

I think its been good for some people. My commuter was about 48% cheaper overall for me, and its never done a single mile thats not cycling to work. Happy days.