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Deduct your car

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Your car is often one of the most important business expenses you can incur as an independent in Belgium (sadly 🥹?): the amounts you can deduct through your car are usually significant and therefore allow you to reduce your taxes considerably.

Be careful, though, because the deductibility of business expenses related to your car is a thorny issue, that the government and the tax authorities are dealing with very actively.

How? By limiting the maximum amount you can deduct in relation to your vehicle.

For you, we, therefore, detail the rules in force and give you simple and precise examples to understand how to maximise the deduction of your transport costs. If you have any questions, please contact us via email at support@accountable.eu.

You buy your vehicle after 1 July 2023 🆕

In 2023, the rules changed to reflect the government’s desire to shift the business vehicle fleet to electric.

Thermal and hybrid cars

For internal combustion and hybrid cars, the maximum deduction for your vehicle, and all related costs ⚠️, is then given by the following rules:

Purchase before 1 July 2023: 120%- (0.5% x [coefficient] x CO2 )
From 1 July 2023: max 75%.
From 1 January 2026: max 50%.
From 1 January 2027: max 25%.
From 1 January 2028: 0%.

Please note that the fossil fuel costs of hybrids are deductible to a maximum of 50%.

Electric car

For fully electric cars, the maximum deduction is higher and is calculated as follows:

From 1 January 2023: max 100%
From 1 January 2027: max 95% -> max 67.5% in 2031

A higher deduction should therefore allow you to recover the higher purchase cost of an electric vehicle. It is therefore important to do the math before making your purchase decision.

You bought your vehicle between 2018 and 2023

In 2020, the rules for deducting expenses related to your business vehicle also changed: you deduct your car according to the business use you make of it and, since January 2020 for a large proportion of vehicles, according to the CO2 emissions of your vehicle.

120% – (0.5% x coefficient x CO2/km)

The CO2/km, you will find it in the documents of your vehicle. The coefficient will be as follows:

The coefficient depends on the type of combustion engine of the car:

Diesel & hybrids	1
LPG ( <11 HP)	0,90
Gasoline	0,95

All company cars, whether new or used, put into circulation before 2020, fall under this new regime.

All cars ordered or purchased from 2018 onwards by a natural person will also fall under this regime.

Did you buy your car before 2018?

Are you an eenmanzaak or personne physique who bought or ordered a car before 2018? You will remain under the old system of deductibility, in stages.

The maximum deductibility applies to the purchase (or depreciation of the purchase) of the vehicle, but also to all deductible business expenses related to your vehicle: think of accessories, maintenance, insurance, taxes, storage costs for your winter tyres. The list is long ⭐️

Hassan AyedAccountant and Tax Advisor, CEO at A.Fiducia

Expert’s advice ✨

Determining the date of purchase and the regime can be complicated. Here are 2 simple cases to help you know which regime you fall under: When it comes to a used or stock vehicle, it's simple: it's the date of purchase, pure and simple. When you order a new vehicle, case law shows that the date of the order form can be used as the date of purchase. So be careful 😉

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