Tax & Deductions

Company Car Tax in the Netherlands 2026: How Bijtelling Works

Updated: 2026-07 Company car Bijtelling DGA

Drive a company car privately in the Netherlands and the tax authority adds a percentage of its value to your income — the bijtelling. In 2026 there are three flavours: 22% standard, 18% for electric cars up to €30,000 list price, and 35% of current market value for cars older than fifteen years. This guide covers the percentages, the maths and the BV (besloten vennootschap, the Dutch private limited company) practice.

The 2026 percentages

Standard: 22% of the original Dutch list price (cataloguswaarde), for cars up to fifteen years old.
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 fifteen years: 35% of the current market value instead of the list price — the youngtimer scheme, worked out in the youngtimer route.

The addition is wage in kind: it stacks on top of your salary and is taxed at your marginal box 1 rate — 37.56% around the €58,000 DGA norm, 49.5% above €78,426.

Worked example

A petrol car with a €45,000 list price adds €9,900 per year. At 37.56% that makes private driving cost €3,719 net per year — about €310 per month — while the BV carries and deducts every car cost: depreciation, insurance, maintenance, fuel or charging, and road tax. The full comparison with driving privately and claiming €0.23 per kilometre is 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 closing trip log — every journey with date, odometer readings, address and purpose — and the addition stays at zero. A formal “statement of zero private use” filed with the tax authority seals the arrangement. Commuting counts as business use.

VAT runs on its own track

Next to the wage-side addition, the BV corrects VAT for private use once a year: the flat rate is 2.7% of the list price including VAT and BPM, dropping to 1.5% from the fifth year after first registration or for margin-scheme cars. The correction goes into the final VAT return of the year.

Holding or operating company: where does the car sit?

In a holding structure, the addition is processed where your employment runs — usually the holding that pays your DGA salary. If the operating company owns the car, it recharges the costs to the holding through the management agreement, or makes the car available to the holding as employer. Put the route on paper so payslip, invoices and VAT line up. How money flows between holding and operating company: the holding structure.

All current percentages sit together 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. Electric cars carry a reduced percentage up to a threshold value; the full rate applies above it.
Customary salary (gebruikelijk loon): The minimum salary a DGA pays themselves, tested against the annually set norm, the most comparable employment and the best-paid employee. A demonstrably lower salary can be agreed with the Dutch tax authority.
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: 2026-07