The Chancellor used last week’s Autumn Statement to sneak in a widely-ignored tax increase for van drivers who are allowed to take their vans home and use them for unrestricted personal use.

Currently, drivers who use their vans for personal use pay a benefit-in-kind (BIK) charge each year, which is added to their tax bills.

The current van BIK rate is £3,000 for van use, and an additional £564 for drivers who get free fuel. A basic rate taxpayer will pay 20% of these amounts, so will have £600 added to their tax bill for van use and £112 for fuel.

The value of the BIK will be increased by 3% from April 2014, meaning that van users will now pay tax on a BIK charge of £3,090 for van use and £581 for fuel. For a basic rate (20%) taxpayer, this equates to £618 and £116.

It’s worth noting that these rules only apply to drivers who use their van for personal use. Simply taking it home with you is no longer enough to incur a charge, and there is also an exemption for using the van to commute and to make occasional, insignificant private use, such as leaving work to visit the dentist, or going to the tip once or twice a year (click here for HMRC factsheet).

To be honest, I can’t imagine that there are many employers left who give employees unfettered personal use of their vans — even less so with unlimited free fuel. I suspect this is most likely to apply to small business directors and owner-operators who do make unlimited personal use of the VAT business vehicles.