Why not just answer his question. If everybody went straight to their accountant we may as well close the 'Ask About Business' category. Some people just want answers to their questions so they can run figures and ideas through their head before approaching accountants to do the necessary paperwork.
Wedgewood, if the commercial vehicle is for business use only, you can claim the full costs of running the vehicle. These include everything from finance/lease payments, to fuel, insurance, services and so on. Usually you pay full price for the vehicle and then the VAT is claimed back in your regular VAT3 returns. This is the most common way but there are various other ways which any finance company or garage will run through with you.
If there will be an element of personal use, you will need to account for this through Benefit In Kind. This is 5% for commercial vehicles. It is taken as 5% of the full purchase value, and not the current market value of the jeep in that particular tax year, so it remains constant throughout.
So, if you purchase a vehicle for €40k then your 'Benefit' is €2,000 (5%), or €166.67 per month. You then pay Income Tax, PRSI and Health Contributions on this amount as normal.
EDIT:
I just came accross this information on the governments Budget 2008
website...
A revised scheme of capital allowances and leasing expenses for cars used for business purposes is being introduced...
As regards leasing expenses, cars in Category A/B/C will benefit from a proportionately higher deduction than the actual leasing expenses where the cost of the car is less than €24,000. Cars in Category D/E will get 50% of the leasing expenses they would otherwise benefit from under the current scheme. Cars in Category F/G will not qualify for a deduction for leasing expenses...
The revised scheme will come into effect in respect of cars purchased or leased on or after 1 July 2008."
It is unclear from the statement whether or not this will effect commercial 'vans'. Revenue are normally very clear in their staements and refer to commercial vehicles as 'vans' in all of their documents, as distinct from company 'cars'. Perhaps when Revenue publish the information they will clarify this issue but it is worth taking into account if you are considering a purchase in the near future.
From my understanding of the above this will not effect arrangements already in place, but again, it is not 100% clear.