Tax & Deductions

Company Car Tax in the Netherlands 2026: How Bijtelling Works

Updated: 6 October 2026 Holdwise editorial team Company car Bijtelling DGA

If you drive a company car privately in the Netherlands, the tax authority adds a percentage of its value to your income. This addition is called the bijtelling. In 2026 there are four main rates. The standard rate is 22%, or 25% for cars first registered before 2017. For electric cars, it is 18% up to €30,000 list price, and an electric car keeps the rate of the year it was first registered for 60 months. For cars older than sixteen years, it is 35% of the current market value. What private driving costs you each month depends on the rate that applies. At Holdwise, we keep this answer up to date and change it when the rules change.

The 2026 percentages

Standard: 22% of the original Dutch list price (cataloguswaarde), for cars first registered from 2017. Cars first registered before 2017 use 25%. For a car older than fifteen years, the current market value replaces the list price.
Electric: 18% on the first €30,000 of list price; the part above that counts at 22%. A €50,000 EV therefore adds €5,400 + €4,400 = €9,800 per year.
Older than sixteen years: 35% of the current market value, so the list price is left out of the calculation. This is the youngtimer scheme, worked out in the youngtimer page.

The addition counts as wage in kind. It is added to your salary and taxed at the box 1 rate on the top part of your income. That is 37.56% around the €58,000 DGA (director-major shareholder) norm, and 49.5% above €78,426.

Worked example

For a petrol car with a €45,000 list price, the addition is €9,900 per year. At 37.56%, private driving then costs you €3,719 net per year, about €310 per month. The BV pays and deducts every car cost: depreciation, insurance, maintenance, fuel or charging, and road tax. You can compare this with driving your own car and claiming €0.25 per kilometre in company car or private car.

Under 500 private kilometres: the addition stays at zero

Keep private use under 500 kilometres per year and prove it with a complete trip log. For every trip, record the date, odometer readings, address and purpose. If you do this, the addition is zero. You confirm this with a formal “statement of zero private use” filed with the tax authority. Commuting counts as business use.

VAT is settled separately

Besides the addition on the wage side, the BV corrects VAT for private use once a year. The flat rate is 2.7% of the list price including VAT and BPM. It drops to 1.5% from the fifth year after first registration, and for margin-scheme cars. The correction is made in the final VAT return of the year.

The addition is processed in the payroll every month. We can run the payroll and bookkeeping of your company. See payroll and administration for a Dutch BV.

Holding or operating company: which one owns the car?

In a holding structure, the addition is processed where you are employed. This is usually the holding that pays your DGA salary. If the operating company owns the car, it charges the costs on to the holding through the management agreement. It can also make the car available to the holding as employer. Put the arrangement on paper so that payslip, invoices and VAT match. You can read how payments between the holding and the operating company work in the holding structure.

All current percentages are listed on Netherlands tax rates 2026.

Terms on this page

Bijtelling (company car addition): The amount added to salary for private use of a company car, as a percentage of the list price. For electric cars, a reduced percentage applies up to a threshold value. Above it, the full rate applies.
Customary salary (gebruikelijk loon): The minimum salary a DGA must pay themselves. The Dutch Tax Administration tests it against the yearly norm, the most comparable job and the best-paid employee. The salary may be lower in a few cases, such as when the most comparable job pays less or the salary is still too high for a new BV. A prior consultation (vooroverleg) with the Tax Administration gives certainty in advance.
VAT (btw): The Dutch value-added tax entrepreneurs charge on supplies and services and remit periodically, after deducting input VAT. Three rates apply: standard, reduced and zero for exports and intra-EU supplies.

All terms in the glossary →

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Part of Doing Business in the Netherlands, the complete 2026 guide.

Sources Belastingdienst · KVK · wetten.overheid.nl Last updated: 6 October 2026