CG76921 - Chattels and other assets: chattels and wasting assets: particular types of chattels and chattel valuations: personalised car number plates
Background
All car registration numbers are unique but some are more sought after than others. A company may, for example, spend a large sum of money to acquire a registration number which it feels will add to the prestige of a company car. That situation became even more common following the Department of Transport's decision to sell off some of the DVLA's more desirable unissued plates. CG76922+ explain how a `personalised' number plate can be acquired, and the Capital Gains Tax consequences.
Methods of acquisition
There are three different ways in which you can acquire the right to use a particular combination of numbers or letters on your car:
- by application to the DVLA for a previously unissued number. In this case no second vehicle is involved and the successful applicant simply pays to have his own car re-registered under the new number. This is the only method of acquisition which does not involve, either directly or indirectly, a second vehicle.
- by buying a car with the desired number attached. The purchase price will reflect the value of the registration mark. Once you have the car you can apply to DVLA to transfer the number from the original old banger onto your Bentley.
- through a middleman. You have probably seen lists of available numbers in the national press. Companies exist to put would-be vendors of desirable numbers in touch with potential purchasers. They act as the middleman in what is effectively the transfer of a registration mark from one person's vehicle to another's. The purchaser is in the same position as if they had applied for an unissued number. They have acquired the right to use the registration mark without having to buy the vehicle which originally carried it.
What is acquired
TCGA92/S52(4)
The value of a personalised car number plate lies in the right to use a particular combination of numbers and letters. This right is an intangible asset which is separate from the actual plate, and from the vehicle to which it is attached. So a person who acquires a personalised car number plate may incur capital expenditure in acquiring:
- the plate itself (usually of negligible value), see below
- intangible rights of enduring benefit which allow them to use a specific combination of letters and numbers when registering a car, see below
and
- the car (where the plate is acquired with the car), see CG76906.
Where more than one asset has been acquired, you need to apportion the acquisition cost. This should be done on a `just and reasonable' basis, TCGA92/S52(4).
The value of a car isn’t affected by the sequence of letters and numbers displayed on the number plates.
In many cases it will be a straightforward matter to determine what part of the total cost you should attribute to the intangible rights mentioned in above.
Car number plate
A car number plate is a chattel. See CG76550+ for the rules about chattels and CG76906 for the rules about vehicles. The physical plate itself has negligible value and only becomes machinery or plant when it is attached to a car. Where a plate is disposed of along with the car or other road vehicle to which it is attached, it should be regarded as part of that vehicle and not as a separate asset.
The capital cost of a car number plate is negligible and is the same irrespective of the numbers stamped on it.
Registration number
A vehicle registration is made up of a combination of numbers and letters. The right to use a particular registration mark is not a chattel and is not part of the particular vehicle to which the plate showing the combination may be attached.
A disposal of such a right does not, therefore, represent either:
- a disposal of a passenger car or other road vehicle, see CG76906
- a disposal of plant or machinery, see CG76900
- a disposal of a chattel, see CG76573, or
- a disposal of a wasting asset, see CG76722.
Any gain arising on the disposal of a registration number will, therefore, be a chargeable gain.