Service vehicle for temporary workers
April 24, 2012 | 40,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Yanqiong Bolik
Hello,
I have been provided with a company vehicle for use. I am only allowed to use it for private purposes and must keep a logbook of my trips. I am on loan to a company as a construction manager for a project. The construction site is located outside of Hamm. During the week, I live in Hamm (rented a private apartment), which is 14 km away from the construction site. On weekends, I drive 560 km home to my family. My employment contract automatically ends with the construction site/when the borrower no longer needs me. The vehicle is not listed in my payroll (no 1% rule applied, vehicle is supposed to be a pool vehicle. Without the company car, I would have had 360 euros more in gross salary, but this is also not documented). I mainly use the vehicle on weekends to go home or to travel between my apartment in Hamm and the construction site. The expenses for the vehicle (gas, taxes, maintenance...) are covered by the employer.
Question: Do my mentioned trips count as business travel? Is the handling of the company vehicle correct? Could I face consequences during a later audit?
Dear inquirer,
Thank you for your inquiry, which I am happy to answer considering your commitment and the rules of this platform.
Please note that my explanation is based on the facts presented, and that adding, omitting, changing the information, or the ambiguity of the information can change the tax result.
Legally, the lender is the employer of the temporary workers (see R 19.1 sentence 5 LStR). According to the description of the situation, the service vehicle should be provided to you free of charge by the lender. The trips to your family on weekends are private trips. The private use of a company vehicle for private trips generally constitutes a taxable benefit and is subject to wage tax deduction. The trips between your residence in Hamm and the construction site could be business trips if the construction site is not your regular place of work within the meaning of § 9 para. 1 sentence 3 no. 4 EStG. According to recent case law (Financial Court Münster, 13-K-456/10, judgment of 11.10.2011), trips to the regular workplace differ from trips as part of a business trip based on whether the employee could have "ex ante" planned to be permanently active there at the start of the respective activity. If your activity at the construction site can be automatically terminated, then you cannot have planned ex ante to be permanently active there.
In principle, private use of the company car constitutes a taxable benefit. Unfortunately, from a distance, it is not possible to assess whether this was also treated as such for tax purposes. The lender as an employer is obligated to withhold and remit the tax deduction amounts. If the taxable benefit leads to taxable income, you are liable for income tax. In principle, you still have the option to report this within the framework of the income tax return. If the tax authorities were to discover the tax losses only through a later tax audit, then the tax authorities could investigate whether there is a case of tax evasion.
I hope I could assist you.
If there are still uncertainties, please feel free to use the follow-up function.
Best regards,
Dr. Yanqiong Bolik
Tax consultant
Bildstöckle 6, 70567 Stuttgart
Tel: +49 (0) 711 / 2132 1815
Email: info@zdbz.de
www.steuerberatung.zdbz.de
