Is it worth claiming tax relief on Personal Car Number Plates?

uk number plate

HMRC have made it clear you can’t claim Capital Allowances for Personalised Car Number Plates, however, they do fall within the Intangibles Regime.

CTA09/PART8/S712

An intangible asset (other than goodwill) satisfies the asset conditions if it meets all the following tests:

  • it is an intangible asset for accounting purposes (CIRD11120) including an asset which comes within the definition of ‘intellectual property’ in section 712 (3) of Part 8 (see CIRD11150),
  • it is a fixed asset (see CIRD11170),
  • it does not fall within one of the statutory exclusions (see CIRD25000 onwards).

Basically you write off the cost over it useful life or use a rate of 4% per year.

There is an argument for not claiming a deduction against your corporation tax because then any gain will be subject to the capital gains tax rules, but as you will probably keep the Registration indefinitely getting a tax saving now rather than possibly getting one later might be more beneficial.

steve@bicknells.net