This is a bit of a long shot - but I am going to wind up my sole trader business at the end of this tax year and retire. I currently offset 10% or so depreciation on the Range Rover/annum against my tax as allowed. However when winding up you can use the actual depreciation and so catch up if they have depreciated faster.
My question is can I sell it to myself at current market value as I would like to keep the car?
It seems simple and indeed it would be if I was simply selling to a dealer or another third party.

So has anyone done this or asked HMRC the question - as I say a long shot but it makes a change from worrying about my leaky back window, fuel consumption, alternator, tyre choice, gearbox etc.

I don't want to ask HMRC as I always suspect it gets flagged but there might be other sole traders on the forum with first hand experience  Geoff

Why not sell it someone else at a well haggled price

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Give me a wee while & i'll get an answer for you...

If you are self employed then you can depreciate the car by 25% pa (50% year one I think if brand new but I could be wrong on this). This has no relationship to business miles against personal miles which your accountant will be able to help with as far as fuel costs etc.

However if its depreciated a lot then you sell for more than this to a third party you will be liable on the difference with the factor of how much of the financial year has passed take into account. That is why whenever I change I generally make sure its the beginning of the financial year (for the business not the country ie we run from 1st July to 30th June every year so changes take place 1st June which makes life simpler).

Am unclear to where you are getting depreciation of 10% a year from?

As you are self-employed, as opposed to running a Limited Company, you already own the car therfore you cannot sell it to yourself.

You could sell it to your wife or a family member at market value.

I am also unsure where you get the 10% depreciation figure from.

My advice would be to get some help from a local accountant.

Geoff, I have a good accountant, PM me if you want his number. He is based in Preston.

Thanks guys, for those that asked: because the car was brought into the business after April 2009 and it emits over 160g/km CO2 the Capital Allowance is limited to 10%/annum and it fell to 8% last April, before that date it was 20% (which incidentally fell to 18%) which doesn't apply in my case.

My affairs are pretty simple these days ( I am a sole trader not a Limited Company) so I don't need an accountant anymore, I'll just sell the car to the missis as charmer suggests  Geoff

Just out of interest I am not 100% sure about not being able to buy a car from a self employed business as that is what I have done in the past albeit as a self employed partner in a business with 2 other partners. Equally I often buy cars personally then 'sell' them to the business so in running the car for a year I only have to pay the deppereciation of 25% initial value as bought. But as said if in doubt just sell at deppreciated value to spouse or parent or (very) trusted friend and then just buy back personally.

In reality it doesnt end up mattering what the deppreciated value is while in the business as if sold to a third party then the difference is used to make up the shortfall or overpayment in tax. Hence the 100% deppreciation of highly economical low emmission cars in year one is irrelevant over the time of owning the car, it just means you pay less tax year one and more years 2 and on.

Anyway as said above I would get advise from a local small accountant with experience of one man self employed businesses.

T

Sell the car at trade - 5% to 10%, get an offer price to buy it from a friendly dealer and keep if required for the future.

By sell of course i mean to a pal or family member ( do not bother changing the log book ) unless you have it in the company name of course. Far to many gone...

Can you not sell it very cheap to a 'friend' as spares or repair with an engine or gearbox failure? after all, who's to know if it has or not. if you are the only owner of the business with no partners then i don't see why not. '04 td6 se
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