Published: 26 October 2026 · Updated: 26 October 2026
A €50,000 electric company car with a 15 km commute costs its driver only about €76 per month in extra tax under Germany's 0.25% rule — while the same car with a petrol engine would cost about €304. The difference is the whole reason German fleets are going electric. Enter your car below.
The 1% rule is really three rules. Petrol and diesel cars are taxed on 1% of the gross list price per month; qualifying plug-in hybrids and expensive electrics on 0.5%; and battery-electric cars up to €100,000 on just 0.25% — plus a commute surcharge of 0.03% per kilometre, halved for hybrids and quartered for cheap electrics.
Researched by MixKhazana Team · Last updated 26 October 2026 · Data: German Income Tax Act (EStG) company-car rules + BMF guidance (2026, incl. the €100,000 BEV cap from 1 July 2025)
A company car you may also drive privately is not free money — German tax law treats the private use as a geldwerter Vorteil, a monetary benefit added to your taxable income each month. The standard way to value it is the 1% method: every month, a percentage of the car's gross list price (the manufacturer's recommended price at first registration, not what your employer actually paid) counts as extra income. For a conventional car that percentage is 1% — a €50,000 car adds €500 a month to your taxable income before you drive a metre. Then comes the commute: if you drive to your first place of work, another 0.03% of the list price per kilometre of one-way distance is added. The alternative is the logbook method (Fahrtenbuch), where you record every trip — better for drivers who rarely use the car privately, but heavy paperwork. For most employees, the 1% method is the deal they actually live with, and it is what this calculator models. If you want the full salary picture afterwards, run the result through our Germany salary after tax calculator.
The electric twist is deliberate policy: since 1 July 2025 the reduced 0.25% rate covers battery-electric company cars with a gross list price up to €100,000, raised from €70,000 — a change the Federal Ministry of Finance published to push fleets electric. The result is stark: on a €50,000 car the monthly taxable benefit falls from €500 (petrol) to €125 (electric), and the commute surcharge falls from 0.03% to 0.0075% per kilometre. That is why, as one recent analysis notes, a €40,000 electric car can cost its driver roughly €52 a month in net tax while the employer covers leasing, insurance and maintenance.
Lena in Munich gets a €50,000 battery-electric company car, commutes 15 km each way, and pays tax at a 42% marginal rate in 2026:
Switch the vehicle type in the widget to see the petrol comparison on your own car.
| Vehicle | Private use / month | Commute / km |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol / diesel | 1% of list price | 0.03% |
| Plug-in hybrid (qualifying) | 0.5% of list price | 0.015% |
| BEV over €100,000 | 0.5% of list price | 0.015% |
| BEV up to €100,000 | 0.25% of list price | 0.0075% |
Under the 1% method, 1% of a company car's gross list price is added to your taxable income every month for private use, plus 0.03% of the list price per kilometre of one-way commute. It is the standard valuation method under §8(2) of the German Income Tax Act; the alternative is a detailed logbook.
Battery-electric company cars with a gross list price up to €100,000 are taxed on only 0.25% of the list price per month instead of 1%, and the commute surcharge drops to 0.0075% per kilometre. The €100,000 cap applies to cars first registered after 30 June 2025; the reduced rate runs until at least 31 December 2030.
Yes, if they qualify: since 1 January 2025 a plug-in hybrid must have at least 80 km of electric range or emit no more than 50 g CO₂/km to get the 0.5% rate (and 0.015% per commute kilometre). Non-qualifying hybrids fall back to the full 1% rule.
No. The Bruttolistenpreis is the manufacturer's recommended retail price including VAT at first registration, even if your employer leased the car at a discount. That is why two identical cars can carry the same taxable benefit despite different lease deals.
No — the surcharge only applies for trips between home and your first place of work. If you never commute in the company car, enter 0 km and only the private-use percentage counts. Hybrid workers are typically taxed only on actual commuting days under the daily method, which this simplified monthly calculator does not model.
It depends on whether the car is genuinely extra or replaces salary. At 42% tax, a €50,000 electric car costs about €76 a month in tax while the employer pays leasing, insurance and maintenance — usually a clear win. The same car as petrol costs about €305 a month, which can be worse than taking the cash. Run both types in the calculator above.
The 1% / 0.5% / 0.25% rates and the commute percentages come from §8(2) EStG and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) company-car guidance, including the increase of the BEV cap to €100,000 from 1 July 2025. This page is an estimate, not tax advice.