The number of recipients of taxable benefits in kind remained steady at 3.7 million in the 2012/13 tax year, the latest figures by HMRC shows.

Cars, fuel, medical and dental insurance remain the highest value benefits in kind. The provisional figures indicate that total taxable value of all benefits in kind increased from £7.5 billion in 2012/13 to £7.7 billion in 2013/14, driven by both company car and private medical benefits.

Latest figures also found that in 2012/13:

• total value of benefits reached £7.5 billion with tax and NIC liabilities at £2.5 billion and £1 billion respectively
• the average taxable values for van and van fuel benefit were £2,510 and £470
• there were 940,000 car users receiving a total of £3.7 billion of taxable value in company car benefits
• private medical insurance was the most widely received benefit, accounting for 62% of all recipients receiving benefits, followed by cars (26%) and excess mileage allowance (9%).

Car and fuel benefits represented 60% of the total taxable value of all benefits in kind, while private medical and dental benefits accounted for 23% of all benefits by value.

The HMRC figures show that there has been a general downward trend in the number of people receiving car and car fuel benefits as well as its taxable value. The number of recipients of car fuel benefit dropped by 33% between 2007/08 and 2012/13, while car benefit reduced by 12%.