As part of the greening of tax law, the Regulation on Non-Cash Remuneration (Sachbezugswerteverordnung) is to be amended to allow the charging of electric cars free of tax. The regulation was sent for review by the Federal Ministry of Finance on November 7, 2022, and it is expected that it will be published in the Federal Law Gazette in December at the latest.
Even in the past, employees were not entitled to any benefits in kind for zero-emission electric cars. Therefore, neither wage tax nor social security contributions had to be paid for company electric cars, and the companies saved themselves the ancillary wage costs. If the employers also paid for the charging, there was major uncertainty about the exemption from taxes. The only thing that was undisputed was that charging at the company was tax-free. If the employer also paid for charging at home, the tax authorities have not always recognized the tax exemption.
In the event that the employer reimburses the employee for the costs of charging the company-owned electric car or bears the costs in full or in part, the employee is exempt from taxes in this regard. The prerequisite for this is that the reimbursement of costs or the bearing of costs relates exclusively to the charging of the employer's own electric car. This applies if the employee is reimbursed for the costs at a publicly accessible charging station or if the employer assumes responsibility for charging in a private family home or at a private parking space.
However, the costs for charging non-employer-owned cars are not covered by this benefit. If a charging device is used both for charging the employer's own car and for any non-employer cars, the costs for charging the employer's own car must therefore be recorded exactly, and the reimbursement of costs is only not taxable to this extent. However, non-employer-owned electric cars may be charged at the company free of tax.
In addition, the acquisition of the necessary charging equipment for an employer-owned electric car in the private household is exempt from tax up to an amount of EUR 2,000. If the acquisition costs (including any necessary additional investments, e.g. for the power lines) exceed the amount of EUR 2,000, only the exceeding part of this amount is to be declared as non-cash remuneration (Sachbezug). The prerequisite for this is that an employer-owned car is provided at the time of acquisition. All of the above mentioned provisions also apply to electric bicycles or electric motorcycles.
Author:
Thomas Neumann
thomas.neumann@bdo.at
+43 5 70 375 - 1720
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