Features
21 juin 18

Major changes to company car taxation in Europe

Each year, Fleet Europe publishes the Fleet Europe Taxation Guide, a structured overview of all relevant information on company car taxation in 23 countries in Europe.

This guide is developed in close collaboration with PwC and includes information on taxation in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. In the online version, we also included information on Bularia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Buy the Taxation Guide now!

Would you like to see what has changed compared to last year? Here's a handy overview of all major changes per country.

Austria

No significant changes.

Belgium

  • Increase of registration tax and annual circulation tax tariffs 
  • Deductibility of fuel cost from the corporate income and the individual tax basis is linked to the CO2 emission of the car.
  • “Fake hybrid cars” will be excluded from favorable tax regimes in the future.

Czech Republic

No significant changes.

Denmark

Increase of annual circulation tax tariffs with reduced rates for electric cars and increase of tax due on private use of company cars. 

Finland

No significant changes.

France

  • Supplemental tax for vehicles with high CO2 emissions has been increased 
  • Further limitation of depreciation basis for polluting cars.

Germany

  • New test procedure for CO2 emissions can result in significantly higher CO2 based vehicle taxes. 
  • Annual vehicle tax will be reduced in case of the implementation of the toll system for passenger cars.

Greece

No significant changes.

Hungary

  • Preferential tax rates were introduced relating to hybrid and electric cars.

Ireland

  • New Benefit in Kind rules for electric cars and vans

Italy

  • Expiry of preferential amortisation rules

Luxembourg

  • Investment tax credit regime eligible for certain types of “zero emission” vehicles. 

Netherlands

  • Changed tariffs for private motor vehicle tax and road tax

Norway

  • Traffic insurance tax increases car insurance cost
  • Changed rules for the calculation of the benefit in kind of the private use of a company car

Poland

  • Changed rates for tax on transportation means

Portugal

  • Changed rates for vehicle registration tax (ISV) and annual vehicle tax (IUC), 

Romania

  • Car tax refund granted to certain types of low-polluting vehicles is not available any more.

Russia

  • Changed rates for recycling tax. 
  • Vehicles accounted for as fixed assets generally subject to property tax unless the former exemption from property tax is continued based on a regional decree.

Spain

  • Subsidies for the purchases of electric and LPG/gas vehicles (“Plan MOVALT”) available if application is made before 30 June, 2018.

Sweden

  • Changed rates for the calculation of vehicle tax
  • Potential change of interest stripping rules may have significant impact on financial leases
  • Congestion tax paid by employer is deemed taxable benefit

Switzerland

  • Deductibility of travel expenses can be limited for cantonal taxes

Turkey

  • Substantial change of the calculation methodology for motor vehicle tax (Tax Law published in the Official Gazette on December 5, 2017)

United Kingdom 

  • Changed rates of vehicle excise duties
  • Changed rules on writing down allowances for cars according to their CO2 emissions 
  • Amended rates for the calculation of the benefit in kind of the private use of a company car 

Bulgaria

No significant changes.

Estonia

  • Heavy goods vehicles subject to road toll
  • Fringe benefit taxes for company cars are tied with a car's power capacity

Latvia

No significant changes.

Lithuania

  • Changed rules for the use of foreign registered cars and registration obligations. 

Slovakia

  • An ongoing programme to support the purchase of electronic cars is continued since the allocated budget resources have not been used up in 2017.

Slovenia 

No significant changes.

Authored by: Benjamin Uyttebroeck