If the employer has provided his employee with a company car that he may use for business and private purposes, the employer regularly recognizes 1% of the gross list price per month as a non-cash benefit (salary) (based on the gross list price at the time of initial registration plus optional equipment). If the employee may also use the company car for their self-employed secondary employment, they do not have to pay tax on any additional non-cash benefit to their employer. However, they may not claim any vehicle costs as business expenses for their self-employed secondary activity. Something else can only apply if the employee has already taxed the non-cash benefit accruing to him on the income side by choosing the logbook method based on the specific usage conditions.
R 8.1 para. 9 no. 1 sentence 8 LStR stipulates that the tax authorities refrain from recognizing a non-cash benefit for business trips outside the employment relationship that the employee makes with the company car in order to generate other income. The employer therefore does not recognize any additional non-cash benefit (over and above the 1% value) as wages.
Note: Employees may even claim the commuting allowance in their income tax return if they use the company car to travel to their first place of work as part of another employment relationship.
Practical example:
An entrepreneur has concluded an employment contract with his spouse and provided him with a company car as part of the employment relationship (gross list price € 30,000). His spouse also has another employment relationship with another employer. His spouse covers the distance of 14 km to this first place of work with the company car.
| The spouse is recorded as the employer for private journeys a non-cash benefit (wages) of € 30,000 × 1% = |
300,00 € |
| for journeys to the place of work in the context of the other employment relationship |
0,00 € |
| recognized in total as wages |
300.00 € |
| per year are taxable 300 € × 12 = |
3.600,00 € |
| Distance allowance 14 km × 220 working days × € 0.38 = |
1.170,40 € |
| taxable on balance = |
2.429,60 € |
Tip for structuring spousal employment relationships
This is an advantageous result for the employee, who may also use their company car as part of other types of income. It can therefore make sense to take advantage of structuring opportunities by providing a company car as part of a spousal employment relationship.