Company car with private use
September 9, 2009 | 15,00 EUR | answered by Oliver Burchardt
Hello,
my employer provides me with a vehicle for business trips and also for private use. Since I only use the car privately in exceptional cases, I decided years ago to keep a logbook. I have always submitted this logbook with my tax return, along with a certificate from my employer detailing the actual costs incurred by the vehicle in the year. In addition, the tax office has my travel expense reports and my attendance calendar.
This year, the tax official is insisting on original receipts for vehicle costs. It should be clear that this effort is hardly manageable for an employer with more than 50 vehicles used in this way. When I inquired if this was possible, I was only told that it was unusual and the certificate sufficed for all other employees. It is completely unrealistic to expect the employer to do this.
What can I do now? File a lawsuit before the tax court? Every argument fails with my financial advisor. What should I do?
Dear inquirer,
Thank you for your question, which I am happy to answer as part of an initial consultation.
As a taxpayer, you are generally obligated to cooperate in clarifying the facts under your duty to cooperate according to § 93 AO. However, the request for information from your tax office is indeed unusual, as the effort required does not justify the return. I agree with you that the request to submit all original documents is excessive.
I recommend that you first argue again the proportionality of the request and demonstrate that your employer cannot provide all original documents due to the large number of vehicles.
Furthermore, you should emphasize again that the certificate issued by your employer has been sufficient in the past.
But I assume that you have already mentioned all of this.
You could possibly ask your employer to provide you with a statement of account set up in the accounting system for your company car, showing the relevant transactions with the booking dates. This way, your tax assessor could compare the entries in your mileage log with the transactions made. You should argue that the transactions on the account must comply with the principle of accounting truth and therefore have probative value.
Referring to colleagues for whom the certificate is sufficient (who may be assessed by the same tax office) could also be helpful.
A lawsuit before the tax court is not yet possible at this stage, as no administrative acts have been issued against which you have unsuccessfully taken extrajudicial action.
If your tax assessment is issued during the process without taking into account the actual costs and shares of private trips due to the continued request for evidence (submission of original documents), you should initially file an objection against the decision. Only if this objection is rejected by the tax office, you have the option to go to the tax court.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to use the follow-up function.
I hope my explanations have been helpful.
Best regards,
Oliver Burchardt
Tax advisor
