Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 section 159

Modification of provisions where van temporarily replaced

Section 159 deals with how the van benefit tax charge is adjusted when an employee's usual van is temporarily unavailable and a replacement van is provided for a short period.

• Where an employee's normal van is unavailable for less than 30 days and a replacement van is provided, special rules prevent a double tax charge arising
• The replacement van is treated as unavailable on the days it stands in for the normal van, so no separate benefit charge arises for those days
• For the purposes of calculating the cash equivalent, shared-use reductions and deductions for private-use payments, the replacement van is treated as if it were the normal van
• Both vans must independently give rise to a van benefit charge under section 154 for these modification rules to apply