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I'm currently job hunting and need to understand what sort of salary range to look for in advertised jobs.

Say my basic salary is £45,000. My work provide free lunches and my mobile phone so I estimate them to be worth a combined amount of about £1,000 per year, bringing my package to £46,000 per year. That's the easy part as there's no tax due on either of those items.

But, I don't know what to add to take into account my company car.

The company pay the lease on the car which is £430 per month so initially I thought if I were to lease that car myself it would cost me

12 * £430 = £5160 per year

Making my total package £51,160. But it occurs to me that were I to pay this lease myself out of my net salary, I'd already have paid tax on that £430 so do I need to account for that too?

However, there is also the "benefit in kind" (BIK) income tax due on the car where HMRC tax me based on the equivalent amount the car adds to my salary (which is based on a percentage of the list price of the car, with the actual percentage applied being a function of the CO2 emissions and fuel type. Because why make things simple?).

So for this year, 2017/2018, the Taxable Benefit Value (the salary equivalent value) of the car is calculated to be £9,355. This means, based on my salary of £45,000, the amount of tax I will pay on that £9,355 is about £3,450.

So which of all these values do I add to my base total of £46,000 to come up with an estimate of my total package?

Is it the lease cost?

£46,000 + £5,160 = £51,160

The Taxable Benefit Value?

£46,000 + £9,355 = £55,355

Or the amount of tax I'm actually paying?

£46,000 + £3,450 = £49,450

Or is it something different that I've missed?

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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about navigating the workplace as defined in the help center.
    – David K
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 18:43
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    How you assess your "total salary package" is going to vary a lot. Most companies only specifically tell you your basic salary. This question might be better suited at Personal Finance & Money.
    – David K
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 18:45
  • @DavidK I dispute it’s off-topic. Comes under “finding employment” and specifically “negotiations.” And I’m not asking for a subjective “how much do I think I’m worth answer” but an objective, “this is how much you earn from your job.”
    – Darren
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 18:48
  • @DavidK in the UK you get a yearly statement of all your benefits in kind as its reported to the tax man most people don't have to file a tax return its all done through PAYE Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 18:49
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    Possible duplicate of How can I determine a reasonable salary to ask for?
    – gnat
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 19:04

1 Answer 1

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I would use your base plus and taxable benefit as defined on your p60 you should be paying tax on the free lunch and mobile BTW and don't for get any employer pension contributions

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  • Good point about checking my last P60. Food is only taxable if it’s only free to certain people (executives for example). If it’s available to all employees, it’s not taxable. Phones have not been taxable for some time (although smart phones were until a few years ago).
    – Darren
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 18:51
  • Actually, the P60 didn’t help loads as it only shows what I actually got paid. They tax the company car by reducing my tax code. But it got me thinking that the correct answer is “how much I paid tax on” plus the basic tax free allowance. I think working that out will give me a good figure to aim for.
    – Darren
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 19:25

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