Government papers: Benefits in Kind Statistics

This National Statistics publication produced by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) contains a series of tables about the taxable Benefits in Kind (BiK) paid by employers. It shows the number of recipients, the taxable value of the benefits and the tax and National Insurance contribution (NIC) liabilities on them.

Key findings

• For 2015/16 the number of recipients of taxable BiK increased slightly to 3.76 million (from 3.69 million in 2014/15).
• The provisional figures for 2016/17 show that the number of recipients of taxable BiK decreased slightly to 3.66 million, while the total taxable value increased to £8.3 billion. The main cause is believed to be increases in the appropriate percentage for company cars.
• The total value of taxable BiK in 2015/16 also increased to £8.1 billion (from £7.6 billion in 2014/15).
• In 2015/16, cars, car fuel and private medical/dental insurance remain the highest value BiK.

The publication provides breakdowns by type of benefit, by income level of the recipient and whether they are an employee or director. In the case of taxable company cars, there are breakdowns by CO2 emission level and fuel type.

The statistics are based on the information reported on P11Ds. It does not include benefits that have been payrolled. However, HMRC estimates that the value of these payrolled benefits and expenses represents a further nine per cent of the taxable value reported in these tables for 2015/16 and 11 per cent for 2016/17; the increase is expected to be due to the introduction of voluntary payrolling. 

The figures are based on statistics from 2015/16 together with some information for earlier years back to 2008/09. Provisional information for 2016/17 has also been included in this publication.