Why is my salary going down when I add in my car allowance? Online calculator… help!

[Salaary]

I’ve been offered a role which is 59k a year and 4,200 car allowance. I’ve put the figures into the online salary calculator and whenever I add in the car allowance as a benefit it comes out at less than me putting in the headline salary?! Am I doing this wrong?

Possibly the calculation is assuming you’re getting taxed on the benefit without getting the allowance in cash. Ie the 4200 is included in the 59k.

Is car allowance taxed differently?

Maybe it should be 59000 plus 4200 and then 4200 is taxed differently and that’s why you have to show it seperately.

Not sure if I’m making sense.

What’s coming out as less, your take home pay?

You’re taxed on your car allowance, so that might be what’s happening.

The car allowance counts as a benefit in kind. That means that usually you pay tax on it. The same is true for things like private medical insurance.
So your take home pay will be less if you have the car allowance as you are taxed in that additional £4200. The level of tax varies depending on if electric or not.
Try putting in your salary as £63200 as that's effectively what you are getting with the car allowance if you want to compare.

A car allowance is just additional salary for you to fund your car (or spends as you wish)

Sounds like you have put it into a calculator as the value of a benefit, ie the company are providing a car for free / beneficial rate.

The car allowance is in addition to the salary. There’s a box for taxable benefits but when you put it in there it makes the overall salary lower

Car allowance is a cash payment (I assume) so taxed in same way as salary, it's not a taxable benefit in kind. That's what's happened, it's assumed £4,200 is a non cash taxable benefit so is taking the tax on that from your cash salary as well. You need to add car allowance and salary together and put into salary box.

Are you putting the car allowance in as some sort of salary sacrifice?