EV charging stations will be taxed from 2021

Skatteverket has published a standpoint that if an employer pays for the installation of an electric vehicle (EV) charging station at the private home of an employee with an electric company car, this will be a taxable benefit. This concerns installations done after December 31, 2020.

What’s this about?

A car that runs partly or totally on electricity can be charged either in a normal wall outlet or in a specially installed charging station. Many recommend not charging in normal wall outlets other than for emergencies, as the electric installation in a home isn’t necessarily built for the load that an EV charger puts on the equipment.

Charging stations can be public or installed in your home. Besides being a safer solution, you can normally charge a car faster with a charging station than in a normal outlet.

What are the rules today?

So far an employer has been able to install a charging station at the home of an employee with an electric company car (i.e. not a private car), with no tax consequences whatsoever.

Skatteverket’s standpoint has been that a charging station is a necessity to be able to drive an electric vehicle. A charging station has not even been added to the “extra equipment” value that is used to calculate the taxable benefit amount. If an employee leaves the company or changes cars to a non-EV, the charging station can stay at the employee’s home with no tax effects.

New standpoint

In Skatteverket’s new standpoint in November 2020 they are changing positions and say that if an employer pays for the installation of a charging station at the home of an employee, this is a taxable benefit valued at market value. There are many reasons for their changed view, e.g. that there are many more electric vehicles on the roads nowadays, many people have EVs privately and you can’t say that a charging station “belongs” to a certain vehicle. A charging station can also be seen as raising the value of a home, so if an employer pays for the installation this is a transfer of value from the employer to the employee.

Skatteverket therefore now sees a charging station as a separate benefit from the vehicle, and should be treated as such.

The new rules come into effect for installations done after December 31, 2020.

Comment

Personally I think these rules have been very beneficial, and I’m not surprised that they are now being changed. A pity for those who have planned to have their company install a charging station at their home, but won’t have time to do this in 2020 (such as myself 🙂 ). But in no way unreasonable, if you ask me.