Charging point and charging costs: what can you deduct?

Business car or private car: that is where it starts

A car you use for both business and private purposes can be put on the business or kept private. If it is a business asset, all car costs are deductible, including the charging point and charging power, but if you drive more than 500 private kilometres a year you face an addition to your income. If you keep it private, you deduct no car costs but claim € 0.25 per business kilometre. The trade-off is covered in buying, leasing or driving privately and the addition in calculating the addition.

With an electric car that comparison sometimes works out differently than you expect. Power is often cheaper per kilometre than fuel, which can make the € 0.25 per kilometre relatively generous, while the purchase price weighs heavily in your depreciation if the car is on the business. Which tax rules apply specifically to electric driving is explained in tax benefits of an electric car.

The home charging point with a business car

If your car is on the business, a charging point you have installed for it also belongs to your business. Purchase and installation, including any changes to your meter cupboard, together form the purchase price. If that exceeds € 450 excluding VAT, you capitalise the point and depreciate it at up to 20 percent a year. Together with other investments that year it can count towards the small-scale investment deduction, if your total exceeds € 2,901.

You deduct the VAT on purchase and installation to the extent the charging point is used for your business car. The private use of the car itself is not corrected through the charging point, but at the end of the year in your last VAT return: with the flat rate of 2.7 percent of the list price (1.5 percent from the fifth year after the year of first use) or, if you keep a complete mileage log, based on the actual private use. How that works is explained in VAT on private use of the car.

Measuring and booking charging costs

Power charged at home ends up on your private energy bill. To book those costs as business expenses you need two things: the number of kWh charged, measured with a calibrated sub-meter or through the records of a smart charging point, and the price per kWh from your energy contract. Make an overview per month or quarter and book the amount as business costs you paid privately. If you have a dynamic contract or solar panels, record which price per kWh you use and apply that method consistently.

Public charging is simpler. Your charging card provider sends a monthly invoice with 21 percent VAT. With a business car you deduct those costs in full, and the VAT too, provided the invoice is in your business's name. Whether you can also deduct the VAT on power charged at home depends on whose name the energy contract is in and how well you can demonstrate the business consumption. Discuss that with your bookkeeper in advance rather than fixing it afterwards.

Private car: only € 0.25 per kilometre

If you keep your electric car private, the € 0.25 per business kilometre covers all car costs: power, charging point, insurance and depreciation. The charging point on your driveway is then private and you do not claim your charging card invoices on top. Drive 8,000 business kilometres and you deduct € 2,000, regardless of what you actually spent on power. A complete mileage log is your evidence.

VAT has its own separate choice. Even with a private car you can in principle deduct the VAT on charging costs in proportion to business use, provided you have invoices in your name and keep complete trip records. With public charging via a card that usually works well; with home charging the business share is harder to prove. If a client reimburses your charging costs, you pass them on in your invoice, see passing on costs.

Frequently asked questions