Tax on Double Cab Pickups

As a result of the CocaCola case from 2021, which related to VW Transporter vans with 2 rows of seats, vans with 2 rows of seats were treated as cars. The treatment of theses vehicles as cars applied to capital allowances and benefits in kind, but not to VAT. For VAT purposes these vehicles were treated as vans and hence input VAT could still be recovered.

The Coca Cola case did not impact on double cab pickups (eg Nissan Navarra) which remained as being treated as vans.

The impact of this case was that for tax purposes (other than VAT) vehicles which looked like vans were treated as cars and vehicles which looked like cars were treated as vans.

At that time we considered this outcome was somewhat odd.

It has therefore come as no suprise to hear that double cab pickups are going to be reclassified as cars for capital allowances purposes and benefits in kind from 1 July 2024. As these vehicles are relatively expensive and have relatively high CO2 emissions, the benefit in kind on these vehicles will be high. It has been estimated that the benefit in kind tax will increase by a factor of 5 times as a result of this change.

See the link below to an article providing further information.

https://www.accountancydaily.co/huge-hike-tax-double-cab-pickups