Companies and governments around the world are transitioning to an electric future. However, employees in Belgium expect to be reimbursed for the electricity they use at home to charge their company car.
First let's look at the general tax rule in Belgium, related to the reimbursement of electric energy used for charging a company car at home.
🫡 What does the general tax rule say?
As a general rule, the mere reimbursement of electricity costs by an employer to its employee, for charging the company car at home, will lead to an additional BIK on top of the lump sum BIK for the company car itself.
In fact, the Minister of Finance stated in 2022 that there will only be NO additional BIK if both the company car and the electricity are provided - and thus not reimbursed - by the employer. Electricity can, for instance, be provided by the employer by means of a charging card to refuel at public charging stations or on the employer's own site.
The same reasoning still applies for a classic fuel car: if the employer not only provides a company car to the employee, but also the fuel for the car (by means of a fuel card), the employee will only be taxed upon one single BIK and the provision of fuel will thus not lead to any additional BIK.
Consequently, the reimbursement of electricity costs by the employer to the employee (for charging the company car at the employee’s home) will, in principle, lead to an additional BIK on top of the lump sum BIK for the company car itself.
❌ What is NOK?
Some companies pay a 'lump sum' (= forfait) to their employees. This is a fixed amount of money that the company thinks will cover the employee's home electricity costs for charging the company car. The Belgian government has expressed disapproval of this method, because:
it is an estimation, not based on actual usage of the car,
it does not use any data about the amount of kWh charged or distance driven,
it could be considered as an additional form of employee compensation, and is therefore likely subject to taxation.
✅ What is OK?
However, the Minister of Finance foresees a tolerance for charging at the employee’s home if a number of specific conditions are met.
This means that there will NOT be any additional BIK (Benefit In Kind) for the employee if the following conditions are cumulatively met:
There must be a specific communication system that communicates to the employer how much electricity is being consumed.
The reimbursement of the electricity for the company car is included in the company’s car policy.
The reimbursement only can relate to the electricity used for charging the company car of the employee.
❓And what about the requirement that the employer ensures that a home charger or an electric charging station is installed at the employee’s home?
A charging station does not have to be installed at the employee's home in order to reimburse the charged energy.
Because, "...several family members can have an electric company car at their disposal, they can charge it at the same charging point. And this is only accepted when the charging costs of each company car can charged separately on a verifiably established way.”
Please note in this regard, that the conditions of an administrative tolerance must be strictly interpreted as it concerns a deviation from the law.
🆗 How does EEVEE meet this requirement?
To our opinion, when taking into account what precedes, it seems plausible that the reimbursement of electricity based upon the consumption registered by the car and collected by EEVEE should be covered by the above mentioned administrative tolerance and should therefore NOT give rise to the taxation of an additional BIK.
Because
the EEVEE app only functions as a communication system between the employee and employer for tracking the charging of the employee's company car. Besides, the Minister of Finance already stated that another form of communication system (other than the one incorporated in a home charger of charging station) is accepted, if the data is verifiable.
because the charging data in the EEVEE app is imported from the car, it is impossible to manipulate the data and the data cannot be interfered with by any other cars charging at home or charging at the same charging station.
Used sources
Vraag en Antwoord Kamer 2020-21, nr. 55-060, 159
Integraal Verslag Kamercommissie Financiën, 16 February 2022, nr. CRIV 55 COM 701, 20
Vraag en Antwoord Kamer 16-12-2022, QRVA 55 099, 144-145
The materials and information on this website have been prepared or assembled by EEVEE Mobility and are intended for informational purposes only. EEVEE Mobility is not responsible for the legal or fiscal accuracy of the information and cannot be held liable or responsible for any errors or omissions in the content of this website.