A company van: how do benefit in kind, VAT and costs work?

If you drive a company van privately, in 2026 you add 22% of the list price to your income. For a fully electric van it is 18% on the first €30,000. There is no benefit in kind if you show that you drive no more than 500 kilometres a year privately (Belastingdienst, benefit in kind 2026). If you only use the van for business, you can file a statement and do not need to keep a trip log.

VAT works differently. You deduct the VAT on the van, but pay VAT back on private use. And for VAT, commuting is private, while for income tax it is business.

In this article

1. How much benefit in kind do you pay for a company van?
2. Which statement do you use to avoid the benefit in kind?
3. When do you need a trip log?
4. How does VAT on a van work?
5. What is the difference between a van in a sole proprietorship and in a private limited company?
6. Buy or lease, and which deductions and taxes apply?
7. Can your van still enter the city?
8. Worked example: what does a plumber's van cost?
9. Frequently asked questions about the company van

How much benefit in kind do you pay for a company van?

In 2026 the benefit in kind is 22% of the list price per year. The benefit in kind is the amount you add to your profit or pay because you also use a company car privately. The rules for private use also apply to almost all vans (Belastingdienst, private use of a car).

For a fully electric van first registered in 2026, 18% applies to the list price up to and including €30,000, and 22% to the part above that. That lower percentage applies for 60 months, counted from the month after first registration. After that, the rules in force at that time apply (Belastingdienst, benefit in kind 2026). A van from an earlier year keeps the percentage of its own year (Belastingdienst, benefit in kind for employees).

For 2027 the government only states that electric cars will have a lower benefit in kind up to and including 2027 (Government of the Netherlands, greener driving). The percentage for a van registered in 2027 is not yet on the tax authority's website. Check it before you order a van at the end of 2026.

Two exceptions matter. In a sole proprietorship the benefit in kind is never higher than your car costs, including depreciation. And a van that is almost exclusively suitable for goods, for example with only a driver's seat and ground-off mounting points for the passenger seat, falls outside the benefit in kind. You then only count the private kilometres times the actual cost per kilometre (Belastingdienst, private use of a car).

Dutch research shows why the law is so strict. A company car in the Netherlands led to more expensive cars and more private kilometres. The researchers estimate the welfare loss of the tax rules at €600 to €780 per company car per year, of which €180 is due to extra private trips (Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau & van Ommeren, 2011). The research was about employees' passenger cars, not about vans.

Which statement do you use to avoid the benefit in kind?

That depends on whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee. With a sole proprietorship or general partnership you file the Statement of business use only for a van. You then take no account of private use in your profit and do not need to keep a trip log. You may then not use the van privately at all (Belastingdienst, business use only of a van).

The statement is valid indefinitely, but not retroactively. If you have already driven more than 500 kilometres privately in the calendar year, you cannot use it that year (Belastingdienst, filing the statement). The tax authority checks, among other things, with cameras. If you cannot show that a trip at an odd time or an unusual place was for business, the tax authority assumes more than 500 kilometres private use, and you can be fined (Belastingdienst, not using a van privately).

For employees there are more routes. The employee can apply for a Statement of no private use of a car himself if he drives no more than 500 kilometres a year privately. A freelancer or sole trader cannot get that statement (Belastingdienst, statement of no private use). As an employer you can also file the Statement of business use only for a van on behalf of your employee, or ban private use in writing and supervise it (Payroll Tax Handbook 2026).

Do your fitters use the vans interchangeably, for example 7 fitters with 3 vans who take the first free van when a call comes in? Then you apply a final levy: in 2026 a fixed amount of €451 per van per year, and your fitters do not need to keep a trip log. If two fitters only swap their own vans, this does not apply (Payroll Tax Handbook 2026).

When do you need a trip log?

When you use the van privately now and then and want to show that it is no more than 500 kilometres a year. For each trip you record the date, the start and end mileage, the departure and arrival address, the route if you take a detour, and whether the trip is private or business (Belastingdienst, trip log). If the log does not meet the requirements, the benefit in kind follows.

For vans with many short trips a day there is a simplified trip log, combined with the business addresses in your records. That suits a plumber or installer with five call-outs a day. Private use during working hours and lunch breaks is then not allowed (Belastingdienst, trip log). A system with the Keurmerk RitRegistratieSystemen quality mark counts as complete, but the tax authority can still check trips (Belastingdienst, private use of a car).

For the benefit in kind, commuting counts as business. A trip from home to the workshop or building site is therefore not a private trip for the 500 kilometres. For VAT it is different.

How does VAT on a van work?

You deduct the VAT on purchase, maintenance and use, for the part you use for taxable turnover. That also applies to leasing. You pay VAT back on private use, through the last VAT return of the year (Belastingdienst, VAT and private use of a company car).

There are two ways to set that amount. With a complete mileage record you pay VAT on the actual private use. Without records you pay 2.7% of the list price including VAT and bpm. That becomes 1.5% from the fifth year after first use, or if you did not deduct VAT on purchase (Belastingdienst, VAT and private use of a company car). You can find the list price with the RDW registration check (Belastingdienst, list price).

For VAT, commuting is private. By this the tax authority means travel between home and a fixed place of work. A construction worker or maintenance fitter who drives to the building site or a customer is not commuting, unless that address has been agreed as a fixed place of work. If your employee's contract has no fixed work address, every trip from home to your business address is commuting, including to collect materials (Belastingdienst, commuting).

The tax authority gives this example. €1,500 of VAT was deducted on a van in one year. The van drove 30,000 kilometres, of which 5,000 kilometres were commuting. You then pay 5,000 divided by 30,000 times €1,500, so €250 VAT for private use (Belastingdienst, commuting).

What is the difference between a van in a sole proprietorship and in a private limited company?

In a sole proprietorship you add the benefit in kind to your profit, up to the amount of your car costs at most (Belastingdienst, private use of a car). You choose: the statement of business use only, a trip log, or paying the benefit in kind.

An owner-director (dga) is, for wage tax purposes, employed by his own private limited company (Payroll Tax Handbook 2026). If you as owner-director drive a company van privately, the company adds the benefit in kind to your pay and withholds payroll tax on it. You then use the routes for employees, such as the Statement of no private use of a car. The company deducts the VAT and corrects private use in its own VAT return.

Buy or lease, and which deductions and taxes apply?

If you buy the van, you depreciate it and may receive the small-scale investment deduction (KIA). That is an extra deduction from profit. In 2026 the KIA is 28% of your investments if together they are between €2,901 and €71,683, with a lower amount for higher investments (Belastingdienst, KIA 2026). With operational lease you pay a fixed amount per month and deduct the VAT on the instalments. The 2.7% VAT correction also applies then (Belastingdienst, VAT and private use of a company car).

Since 2025 a new van with emissions has been subject to bpm. You pay €76.57 per gram of CO2 per kilometre, so at 130 grams €9,954. A van without emissions has no bpm (Belastingdienst, calculating bpm on a van). The exemption for entrepreneurs now only applies to vans first registered on or before 31 December 2024, if you use them more than 10% for business (Belastingdienst, bpm entrepreneur scheme).

For motor vehicle tax the lower entrepreneur's rate applies if you are a VAT entrepreneur, the van is in your name and you use it more than 10% for business. From 1 July 2026 to 1 January 2027 you temporarily pay half of that (Belastingdienst, van rate for entrepreneurs).

You only get the environmental investment deduction (MIA) for assets on the Environmental List. In 2026 that includes a hydrogen van, with 45% MIA (RVO, Environmental List 2026, G 3104). For another van, check the Environmental List to see whether it is on it before you order.

Can your van still enter the city?

That depends on the emission class and the date of first registration. A zero-emission zone is an area that vans and lorries may only enter without emissions, with transitional rules for older vans. New vans first registered from 1 January 2025 must be emission-free. Euro 5 may enter until 1 January 2027. Euro 6 first registered before 2025 may enter until 1 January 2028, and the government plans to extend that to 1 January 2029 (Op weg naar ZES, access rules). That extension has not yet been adopted as of October 2026.

Places that already have a zone are Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Arnhem, Assen, Delft, The Hague, Eindhoven, Enschede, Gouda, Groningen, Haarlem, 's-Hertogenbosch, Leiden, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Schiphol, Tilburg, Utrecht and Zwolle. Alphen aan den Rijn and Venlo follow on 1 January 2027 (Op weg naar ZES, where the zones are). In 2026 the fine is €130 for a van (Op weg naar ZES, access rules).

There are also low-emission zones for diesels. Amsterdam and Utrecht have a blue zone, Arnhem and The Hague a green one. In The Hague and Utrecht the low-emission zone only applies to passenger cars, because vans there fall under the zero-emission zone (Op weg naar ZES, low-emission zones).

Worked example: what does a plumber's van cost?

A plumber with a sole proprietorship buys a fully electric van in 2026. The list price including VAT is €50,000, and there is no bpm. He works from home and drives to customers every day. This is an example with rounded annual amounts, not a calculation of his tax.

The benefit in kind is not an amount you pay, but an amount on which you pay income tax. In a sole proprietorship the benefit in kind is never higher than the actual car costs (Belastingdienst, private use of a car). If he buys the van for €40,000 excluding VAT and makes no other investments that year, the KIA is 28%, so €11,200 (Belastingdienst, KIA 2026).

Frequently asked questions about the company van

1. May I drive home with the statement of business use only?

   Yes. For income tax, commuting counts as business. Other private trips are not allowed, not even a quick stop at the supermarket. For VAT, commuting can be private if you drive to a fixed place of work.

2. Can I still file the statement halfway through the year?

   Yes, but only if you show with a trip log that up to that moment, converted to a full year, you drove no more than 500 kilometres privately (Belastingdienst, filing the statement).

3. May my fitter take the van home without a benefit in kind?

   Yes, if private use is banned in writing and you supervise it, or if you file the Statement of business use only for a van on his behalf. Driving home and to work is not private use for the benefit in kind.

4. Do I pay a benefit in kind if the van only has a driver's seat?

   Not the normal benefit in kind. If you do drive it privately, you count the private kilometres times the actual cost per kilometre.

5. May my Euro 6 van still enter a zero-emission zone in 2028?

   Under the current rules until 1 January 2028, if the date of first registration is before 2025. The government wants to extend that to 1 January 2029, but this has not been adopted as of October 2026.

Sources

• Belastingdienst, Benefit in kind for private use of a car 2026, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Private use of a car, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, I am an employee and drive a company car privately, what is my benefit in kind?, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Government of the Netherlands, Government encourages greener driving, accessed 16 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau, E. & van Ommeren, J.N. (2011). Welfare effects of distortionary fringe benefits taxation: the case of employer-provided cars. International Economic Review, 52(4), 1105-1122. doi.org
• Belastingdienst, Business use only of a van, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Filing the statement of business use only for a van, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Not using a van privately, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Statement of no private use of a car: applying, registering a plate and withdrawing, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Payroll Tax Handbook 2026, March 2026 version, section 23.4 and the chapter on the owner-director. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Trip log, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, VAT and private use of a company car, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, List price for calculating the private use correction, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, VAT and private use of a company car: commuting, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Small-scale investment deduction 2026, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, How do I calculate bpm for a van?, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Am I eligible for the bpm entrepreneur scheme?, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Motor vehicle tax van rate for entrepreneurs, accessed 16 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• RVO, Environmental and Energy List 2026, code G 3104, accessed 16 October 2026. rvo.nl
• Op weg naar ZES, Access rules, accessed 16 October 2026. opwegnaarzes.nl
• Op weg naar ZES, Where are the zero-emission zones, accessed 16 October 2026. opwegnaarzes.nl
• Op weg naar ZES, Low-emission zones, accessed 16 October 2026. opwegnaarzes.nl