Pre-approval
As MD600 says, the problem with HMRC is that it depends who you get on the day and what mood they are in.
As long as the usage of the machine is demonstrably 100% for the use of the business, then all associated costs ought to be deductible from the company's bottom line, and therefore exempt from Corporation tax.
Our business is not aviation based. Prior to purchasing the helicopter, we wrote 2 applications to HMRC to effectively get a pre-emptive decision on how various elements of the running costs would be dealt with once we bought the machine.
These pre-clearances approached the issues of VAT, BIK, depreciation, maintenance and others.
Depending on your role in the business, BIK would be your major worry. If the business buys an asset which is available for your use, then there is theoretically a 28% liability over that asset's purchase value annually, regardless of whether you use it or not.
Even with our bargain R66, as the owner of the business and a rated pilot, without doing the due diligence I was looking at a possible tax liability of 28% of 720k at 45%. Each year.
Thankfully, HMRC reacted to our application in a pragmatic fashion, and a suitable compromise was reached.
The pre-approval requests were submitted by our Accountants. They are not specialist aviation accountants, but if you PM me, I'll gladly pass on their details.
Goes without saying - I'm not an accountant, and I'm only speaking about my experiences...
FF