9.1 What is a scale charge ?
A scale charge is a way of accounting for output tax on road fuel bought by a business that is then put to private use. If you use the scale charge, you can recover all the VAT charged on road fuel without having to split your mileage between business and private use. Until 2007 the charge was based on engine size and the type of fuel used, but with effect from Budget 2007 it is based on carbon dioxide emissions.
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9.2 How do I account for output tax?
You need to use the fuel scale charge tables at paragraph:
* 9.4 for monthly returns
* 9.5 for quarterly returns and
* 9.6 for annual returns.
These show the scale charges and the output tax payable for each VAT period starting on or after 1 May 2007. You must use these scales from the start of your next prescribed accounting period beginning on or after 1 May 2007, for example, if your quarterly period ends 30 June 2007, the new scale charge will first apply in period ending 30 September 2007. You must account for output tax for each car in which private motoring is funded. The scale charge for a particular vehicle is determined by its CO2 emissions figure. Where the CO2 emissions figure is not a multiple of 5, the figure is rounded down to the next multiple of 5 to determine the level of charge. For a bi-fuel vehicle which has two CO2 emissions figures, the lower of the 2 figures should be used. For cars which are too old to have a CO2 emissions figure, HMRC have prescribed a level of emissions by reference to the vehicle’s engine capacity only (see paragraph 9.3).
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9.3 How can I obtain the CO2 emissions figure for my vehicle?
If your vehicle is registered after 2001, the CO2 emissions figure for your vehicle appears on your Vehicle Registration Certificate (VC5). If your vehicle was registered before 2001, you can obtain this information from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited website which contains information on CO2 emissions for vehicles from 1997. In addition, the Vehicle Certification Agency Car Fuel Data website allows you to search on specific cars, and further historical information is available at The Vehicle Certification Agency. For vehicles which do not have a CO2 emissions figure, you should identify the CO2 band based on engine size, as follows:
* if its cylinder capacity is 1,400 cubic centimetres or less, use CO2 band 140 or below
* if its cylinder capacity exceeds 1,400 cubic centimetres but does not exceed 2,000 cubic centimetres, use CO2 band 175
* if its cylinder capacity exceeds 2,000 cubic centimetres, use CO2 band 240 or above.
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9.4 Fuel charge table for 1 month periods
