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How can e-car charging costs for company cars be easily deducted? What do employers need to consider regarding charging cards, charging stations, and wall boxes? Tips from tax advisor Miriam Pioch.
Charging costs for electric company cars can be claimed for tax purposes. It doesn't matter whether they are incurred directly by the entrepreneur or an employee. Business owners are generally aware of this.
Employees must generally be able to prove the e-car charging costs they incur. They must also claim the expenses as reimbursement to their employer – which is time-consuming. "Those who want to save on taxes can take a much simpler route," says Tax advisor Miriam Pioch from Kaiserslautern.
The tax authorities envisage a much simpler solution for electric company cars, which most self-employed people and employees are not familiar with, according to the founder of the Tax consulting firm "Steuerpreneurs Germany". She reveals how this works in a guest article:
A particularly attractive option is the Employer's charging cardThis is often provided and allows you to charge your electric car at public charging stations.
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The tax advantage is that the Unlimited use of the charging card This means that the employer can fully cover the costs of charging the company car without the employee having to pay any taxes. Thus, both companies and employees can benefit equally from the tax advantages of an electric car.
Another way to benefit from the tax advantages of an electric car as an employee vehicle is to Charging the car at the employer's premisesThis applies not only to company cars, but also to employees' private electric cars. Anyone who charges their electric car at work saves a lot of money. Unlike filling up with petrol or diesel, employees are allowed to use their private cars while charging with electricity. charge at employer's expenseThis is tax-advantaged and therefore represents an attractive way to save costs.
At the same time, the more favorable taxation of private use of company cars for hybrid vehicles, provided their purely electric range is sufficiently high. Between 2025 and 2030, this must be 80 kilometers. Then, private taxation can be calculated at half the domestic list price for hybrids using the so-called "one percent rule."
For purely electric company car With a maximum list price of €60.000, the monetary benefit amounts to only a quarter of the domestic list price. For companies, this means that they can generally deduct all vehicle costs as business expenses. This includes electricity costs if they originate from their own facility.
In return, the private taxation The company car benefit for employees is significantly lower than for combustion engines. Tax incentives for the purchase of charging stations: Employers have the option of fully financing a charging device for their employees to charge at home.
It's important that the device remains company property. If the employer provides this benefit in addition to regular salary, the purchase and installation of this charging device is considered a business expense for the employer and tax-free for the employee.
Alternatively, employers can support the purchase of a charging station or wall box for their employees' homes by providing a subsidy. This subsidy is taxable at a flat rate of 25 percent by the employer and is exempt from social security contributions if it is also provided in addition to the employee's regular salary.
Furthermore, the electricity costs incurred by the employee at home for charging his company car can be claimed from the employer as a lump sum.
For purely electric vehicles, it is possible to receive a monthly flat rate of 30 euros from the employer to cover the costs of charging at home, provided that a company-owned charging facility or charging card is available.
If the employee can charge at home but does not have an additional charging option available at the employer's premises and has not received a "company charging card" for charging at company expense, the subsidy amounts to 70 euros.
Flat rates of €15 and €35 ​​per month apply to hybrid vehicles. This eliminates the need for employees to laboriously measure their electricity consumption at home and bill their employers. These regulations are provisionally valid until 2030.
If expenses are higher, individual costs are billed If the employee's individual electricity costs are significantly higher than the monthly flat rate, the employer can switch to individual cost reimbursement.
However, the requirements regarding the verifiability of actual electricity consumption are higher. For this reason, a home wallbox should be equipped with aspecial RFID chip charging card and a counter It must be equipped with features that allow the fuel consumption of the assigned vehicle to be tracked. At the same time, it must be contractually agreed and randomly checked that the card is used only for a specific company vehicle. Grant salary increases or direct benefits.
As attractive as the tax breaks may be, employers are not allowed to use the benefits mentioned for electric company cars or hybrid vehicles under no circumstances as part of a salary conversion It is not permitted to convert a taxable salary into a tax-free salary.
The employer may not deduct the cost of a vehicle from the employee's salary, but must grant it either as a salary increase or as a direct benefit.
Source: Miriam Pioch steuerpreneure.de
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