Work Vehicle - Tax help please very confused

[plasteredric]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a bit of tax advice, i'm looking into getting either an estate car or van to use in my business.
I've searched various forums and checked the hmrc website (which has very little useful info) but it's just confusing me more.

I'm both employed and a self employed tradesman, none VAT registered. I earn about 18k from employed work and around 10-11k from self employed (both before tax)

My options are:

Purchase outright a second hand vehicle costing around 3-4k

Lease or purchase new at around £200 per month, I understand there are several ways of doing this, though i'm not sure what the actual difference is between these options...
Hire Purchase
Finance Lease
Contract Hire
Lease Purchase
any others?

Would i be able to claim any tax benefits if it was a personal lease/purchase?

I do about 4.5K miles per year in my self employment and have a car that I would use for commuting to my employed work. I'm looking at getting something fairly economical but still with a bit of grunt as i'll likely be carrying heavy loads occasionally. Am I right that CO2 emissions affect the tax benefits? it seems hmrc keep changing the rules. Are there any implications should I use the vehicle for personal use/commuting?

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[john1989]

You can claim running costs or approved mileage rates. You can only claim for the business use of your vehicle.

 

[Scalloway]

A van is classed as plant and you can claim either the full cost as Annual Investment Allowance or 18% of the reducing balance of the cost each year. You can also claim for running costs.

The rules for cars, including estate cars, are more complicated. The simplest way to deal with a car is to claim the HMRC approved rate of 45p per business mile.