Section 295: Transport and subsistence for Government ministers etc.
1210.This section provides an exemption in respect of transport or subsistence provided for certain Government office-holders, mainly Ministers, and members of their families or households. It derives from section 200AA of ICTA. The exemption also covers payments and reimbursements of travel and subsistence expenses if they are made by or on behalf of the Crown.
1211.The exemption was extended in FA 1999 to apply to Ministers and similar office-holders serving in the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
1212.For the purposes of this exemption, the provision of transport includes the provision of a car, which would otherwise give rise to a charge to tax under the benefits code. The source legislation applies the exemption specifically to cars, but then goes on to define a car as “any mechanically propelled road vehicle” – a phrase which could include, for example, a van or a motorbike. This slight incongruity has been removed by applying the exemption to the provision of a “vehicle”, and defining “vehicle” in the same way as “car” is defined in the source legislation. It therefore applies to vans and motorbikes as well as cars.
