What is the most commonly offered taxable benefit in the UK?

Every now again a report is published, and you think: oh, that is worth knowing. Just such a report, Benefits In Kind Statistics, was published by HMRC in July just before we all headed off on holiday.

Let’s be honest, it’s a not a gripping beach read. But what it does is put employee benefits in perspective and provides an insight into just how many people receive taxable benefits in the UK (it was £3.7 million in 2014-15), which is the most commonly offered table benefits (it is private medical and dental received by 2,430,000 people in 2015-15), and which taxable benefit garners the most money for HMRC (it is the company car at £4,320 million a year – more than half of the total collected for taxable benefits).

These type of figures are handy to know about if you manage benefits (there are plenty more in the report).

You also quickly realise just what a tiny proportion of employees receive such benefits. The masses tend to be pulled into tax-free (as opposed to taxable) benefits such as pensions. But these benefits, such as accommodation and beneficial loan,s tend to be for the better-paid.

So you are a data lover and want to see the full report – which is pleasantly simple to read and grasp – you can follow this link to the HMRC's 35 page Benefits In Kind Statistics report via the REBA Report Library.

The REBA Reports Library has hundred of reports, surveys and other handy documents pulled together from a myriad of government departments, academics, independent organisations and suppliers. We have pulled them together for our members to use to find the data they need to support business cases, presentations and other reward work.

Debi O'Donovan is a director of the Reward & Employee Benefits Association