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Deduct home visits for families in double household management with a private car and use a company car as a second car.

July 22, 2020 | 30,00 EUR | answered by Steuerberater Knut Christiansen

Hello,

I am planning to lease a company car (typical employer leasing through salary conversion, taxable benefit with lump sum method, 1% rule for list price, 0.03% rule for trips between home and workplace).

So far, I have not had a company car and have been able to deduct my family home trips (1x per week) with my private car as part of the double household management at 0.30 euros/km (if I were to use the company car for these trips, it seems that I would no longer be able to do this).

However, I would still like to continue using my private car for family home trips (and use the company car as a kind of second car for trips between second home and workplace).

Question: In this case, can I still deduct the 0.30 euros/km for family home trips, or what do I need to indicate in the tax return in this case?

Any further tips would be greatly appreciated!

Steuerberater Knut Christiansen

Good day and thank you for using frag-einen.com!

I would like to answer your question as part of an initial consultation. Please note that this forum cannot replace personal advice, but only serves as a first tax assessment.

In principle, § 9 (1) No. 5 sentence 8 stipulates that commutes to the family home with a company car are not to be taken into account. In other words, commutes to the family home with a private vehicle, for which you will incur costs, will lead to a tax assessment. However, you should document well that you actually drove to the second residence with the private vehicle (possibly through photos of the mileage at the arrival and departure day, travel schedule). Furthermore, you should have a written agreement with your employer stating that commutes to the family home are not allowed with the company car.

Otherwise, the employer does not have to tax a pecuniary advantage for a commute to the family home per week, because there would be the possibility of deducting it as advertising costs. Therefore, you should consider whether it makes sense to carry out the commutes with the private vehicle in this context. Because this will also incur costs for you (fuel, wear and tear). If you drive with the company car, you can essentially drive for free, because the employer covers the expenses for it.

I hope this answers your question, if not please feel free to contact me again.

Best regards

Knut Christiansen
Tax advisor