Transfer of company car into private ownership
July 11, 2014 | 30,00 EUR | answered by Steuerberater Peter Jansen
Dear Sir or Madam,
Due to the closure of operations, I have transferred my company car into my personal assets. I received the input tax deduction for the purchase from the tax office at that time. The car had not yet been fully depreciated. So, I booked a withdrawal of assets as a private withdrawal with VAT, hopefully correctly. I also booked the depreciation and extraordinary depreciation. Shortly after, I had to sell the car to a private individual. Since the book value was still 19,000 €, the VAT is accordingly quite high. Now my question is: Does the VAT have to be paid to the tax office, or is there a trick to avoid it with corresponding bookings? When and how is this possible? As the VAT declaration is imminent and I have hardly any input tax to offset, I would be very grateful for an answer.
Dear inquirer,
I am happy to answer your question as follows:
The entrepreneur makes a withdrawal when he permanently and intentionally transfers an item from his business assets for non-business (private) purposes free of charge. The crucial factor is the finality of his intention to remove the item from the business assets. This happened in the context of the business closure.
The legislator has equated this withdrawal with a delivery for consideration, provided that the withdrawn asset was entitled to input tax deduction. This is also the case here.
The taxable amount for this withdrawal for VAT purposes is the replacement cost without VAT at the time of the withdrawal. The book value of the car is not to be included. The car was sold shortly after the withdrawal. If the sale was made at market value, this value can be used as the basis for the taxable amount.
There is no way to avoid this VAT withdrawal taxation in this case.
I hope I was able to help you and remain
Yours sincerely,
Peter Jansen
Tax advisor
