007’s £416,000 company car tax bill

We don’t imagine James Bond would worry about his company car tax bill – he’s too suave and sophisticated. But if he did, he’d find out that his wheels of choice in the new Bond movie Skyfall would leave him liable for a £416,000 tax charge.

In the latest spy thriller, 007 star Daniel Craig drives the very same 1964 Aston Martin DB5 first used by the character (played by Sean Connery at the time) in the Goldfinger film.

The cars of Skyfall

The cheapest new cars with free VED road tax

Two years ago the classic Aston was sold at auction to a private collector for a staggering £2.6 million.

According to experts at chartered accountants Nyman Libson Paul – who looked into the historic tax arrangements for the personal use of a company car – assuming his employers at MI6 provided him with his ‘company car’, Bond’s benefit would stand at a whopping £832,000 under classic car tax guidelines.

As a 50% higher rate taxpayer, that’d leave him with a company car tax bill of £416,000.

Compare that to Bond’s run around from 1977 when company car tax was first introduced – the Lotus Esprit driven by Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me – and 007 would have only had to stump up £315, around £1,900 today when adjusted for inflation.

That’s still considerably less than the £11,200 the Commander of the Royal Navy would have had to pay for climbing behind the wheel of his Aston Martin DBS in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace.

007 is not averse to finding an exit from a sticky situation however, and it’s not clear if Bond owns the Aston or if MI6 provide it for him, meaning the spy could be off the hook.

Tax partner at Nyman Libson Paul Dave Morrison:

“If it’s a company car, Bond has a good case for arguing that he only uses it for work and would therefore not have to pay any tax on it as there would be no personal benefit.

“If the Treasury discover he has been taking it home at night or using it to go shopping – or even for entertaining Bond girls – he could be in hot water.”

The cars of Skyfall

The cheapest new cars with free VED road tax

Cars to beat the taxman

Top 10 most economical cars

£23k ‘gas-guzzler’ tax for large-engined cars