An online solution has been developed to the potential threat of six-figure fines faced by car dealerships which fail to fully comply with tax guidelines.
HMRC has already handed out heavy fines to dealerships which failed to keep comprehensive records of employees’ benefit-in-kind tax that company car drivers pay for the use of company vehicles.
Cooper Solutions has developed FullCompliance in order to combat the likelihood of large fines as well as ease the time-consuming record-keeping process associated with the tax.
Cooper Solutions has finely tuned the software in collaboration with Sytner Leicester BMW, based at Meridian Business Park, Leicester.
Jenny Kiff, Financial Controller at Sytner Leicester BMW, said: “Arguably the biggest benefit FullCompliance brings is peace of mind. We are confident and relaxed that when we are audited by the tax inspectors, we have the records which prove we are paying exactly what we should be paying. FullCompliance has brought savings to the dealership in terms of fuel costs and time. Cooper Solutions worked very hard with us to ensure the system did everything we needed to do and more. It is low maintenance, easy to operate and the training and support from Cooper Solutions has been superb.”
The detailed nature of the records kept through use of FullCompliance also allows accurate employee fuel tax benefit calculations to be carried out. This removes the risk of employees benefiting from company fuel, therefore eliminating the danger of further HMRC fines.
In addition FullCompliance allows dealerships to keep accurate records of static vehicle demonstrator mileages. This allows a dealership to provide proof that all mileage undertaken was only for business use or driven by customers.
Dean Pipitone, Director at Cooper Solutions, said: “The harsh reality is, when the tax man comes calling, if dealerships cannot provide comprehensive and accurate evidence of company car and demonstrator vehicle usage they face fines in the six-figure region. Ignorance is not an excuse and the onus of proof is on the dealership, not HMRC. If you cannot account for where your vehicles are at any given time on any given day, and who was driving what, the consequences can be financially devastating. This is why we have worked hard to combat these problems and ease the burden of compliance by developing this software. We were delighted to have worked with Sytner Leicester BMW as they are one of the biggest dealerships in the country with over 60 company car drivers – which means there is unlikely to be a challenge anywhere else that we haven’t already faced there.”
Please click here to find out more about FullCompliance.
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