Expenses and benefits: assets bought, sold or given
Work out the value
Give or sell a new asset to an employee
The value is the higher of:
- how much the asset is worth second-hand when you transfer it
- how much you bought the asset for
Give or sell a used or depreciated asset (not previously made available as a benefit)
The value is how much the asset is worth second-hand when you transfer it.
Give or sell a used asset that you’ve previously made available as a benefit
The value is the higher of:
- how much the asset is worth second-hand when you transfer it
- how much the asset is worth when you first provided it as a benefit, minus any amount that was subject to tax or National Insurance while you were providing it as a benefit
See an example of how this works.
Exceptions for assets previously available as a benefit
The value is calculated differently for:
- cars
- vans
- bicycles or cyclists’ safety equipment
- living accommodation
- computer equipment that you made available for private use when a limited exemption for computers was in force (until 6 April 2006)
The value to use is how much the asset is worth second-hand when you transfer it.
Buy an asset from an employee
The value to use is the amount you pay over the asset’s market value.
Salary sacrifice arrangements
If the cost of asset is less than the amount of salary given up, report the salary amount instead.
These rules don’t apply to arrangements made before 6 April 2017 - check when the rules will change.