THE Treasury has revealed that errors in tax codings for the new carbon dioxide-based company car tax system have affected nearly 100,000 more drivers than originally estimated.

Paul Boateng, financial secretary to the Treasury, revealed to MPs in the House of Commons this month that 280,000 company car drivers have received the wrong tax codings, despite their employers making the effort to submit detailed CO2 figures on their fleets.

When the problem was first revealed in Fleet News, it was thought just under 200,000 drivers were affected (Fleet News January 24). Boateng added: 'In those cases, the Inland Revenue has made it clear that revised tax coding notices will be issued before the start of the new tax year.'

Fleet News revealed last month that a computer error at the Inland Revenue had failed to match CO2 emission figures provided by fleets with drivers' tax codings.

Between 8% and 9% of employers had provided CO2 information in advance of the launch of the new tax system, following calls from the Inland Revenue for help in making sure drivers paid the correct amount of tax in the first year of the new system. Our story provoked a flood of letters from fleet decision-makers expressing their anger at the Inland Revenue's handling of the situation.