Car taxation: the tax on vehicle costs for your non-profit
Since 1 January 2026 the Belgian legal entity tax (rechtspersonenbelasting, RPB) also taxes the vehicle costs of non-profits (vzw/asbl). Buy, lease or rent a petrol, diesel or hybrid car and you pay 25% tax on top of every cost of that car; electric cars follow from 2027, on a much smaller share of the costs. This topic page bundles what you need to know: what changes, which costs and vehicles count, how we keep track at de kleine prins and what your organisation has to do itself.
In short
- New car (purchase, lease or rental) from 1 January 2026 running on petrol, diesel or a hybrid: 25% tax on all costs of that car.
- Electric car: nothing for a car from 2026; from purchase year 2027 a small share of the costs, rising per purchase year from 5% to 32.5%, at the same 25% rate.
- Cars from before 1 January 2026 stay out of scope. So do mileage allowances and car costs reimbursed to volunteers, employees and other third parties.
- Your job: with every car-related cost in The Lantern, use the comment field to say which car it concerns. We keep the status per car and calculate the tax.
What changes?
Up to and including 2025, the legal entity tax (RPB) only taxed one thing about cars: the benefit in kind that an employee or volunteer pays for the private use of a car of the non-profit, at 17% or 40% depending on whether a fuel or charging card comes with it. That tax simply remains.
New since income year 2026 (assessment year 2027) is a second taxable base, taken over from corporate income tax: the RPB now also taxes part of the vehicle costs themselves. What a company may not deduct, a non-profit pays as tax. The rate is always 25%; what differs is the share of the costs it is levied on:
| Car purchased, leased or rented from | Petrol, diesel or hybrid | Electric (zero CO2 emissions) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2026 | 100% | 0% |
| 1 January 2027 | 100% | 5% |
| 1 January 2028 | 100% | 10% |
| 1 January 2029 | 100% | 17.5% |
| 1 January 2030 | 100% | 25% |
| 1 January 2031 | 100% | 32.5% |
The percentage depends on the year in which you acquire the car and then stays fixed for that car. An electric car from 2026 therefore remains untaxed, even in 2031; an electric car from 2028 sits at 10% for its whole life. For the tax authorities a hybrid counts as petrol or diesel.
A worked example (from the webinar): two cars of 50,000 euro, bought in 2026, depreciated over five years, with identical running costs.
| Petrol, diesel or hybrid | Electric | |
|---|---|---|
| Costs per year (depreciation + running costs) | 14,300 euro | 14,300 euro |
| Legal entity tax per year | 3,575 euro | 0 euro |
| Total cost per year | 17,875 euro | 14,300 euro |
| Total cost after five years | 89,375 euro | 71,500 euro |
For the same total cost you can buy a more expensive electric car plus a charging point. Smaller costs count just as hard: rent a car for an outing for 1,000 euro including fuel and that outing costs you 1,250 euro. Put it in your budget.
Which costs and which cars?
It concerns passenger cars, dual-purpose vehicles and minibuses, and all costs that go with them: depreciation, leasing or rental, fuel or charging, insurance, maintenance and repairs, and even the road tax.
Out of scope:
- cars you bought, leased or rented before 1 January 2026; the purchase date or the signing date of the lease contract counts;
- mileage allowances and car costs you reimburse to volunteers, employees or other third parties, for instance a car a volunteer rents in their own name and claims through an expense note (circular 2025/C/71);
- “real” light commercial vehicles, buses from ten seats and vehicles for paid passenger transport. For the latter there is still uncertainty when the driver is a volunteer; as soon as there is certainty you will read it in our newsletter.
Shared cars (Cambio). Car sharing is rental and therefore falls under the rules in principle, but per shared car: the purchase year and the drivetrain of the car you use determine the percentage. Since January 2026 Cambio states on the invoice, for every trip, when the car was bought and what its CO2 emissions are. Trips with a car Cambio bought before 2026 remain untaxed; choose an electric shared car and the cost stays low afterwards too. The tax authorities have not officially confirmed this position; de kleine prins follows it until a different guideline appears.
How it works at de kleine prins
In the accounts we keep the status per car: when it was acquired, which drivetrain, which percentage applies and which costs have been booked on it. We calculate the tax in the legal entity tax return, for the first time for income year 2026.
Your only task is in The Lantern: with every invoice or expense note that has to do with a car, use the comment field to say which car it concerns, for example “Peugeot 208, 1-ABC-123” or “Cambio, trip 14/03”. You do not have to write anything on the invoice itself. That way we know immediately which car and which percentage the cost belongs to when we book it. How the comment field works is explained in course part 5 of The Lantern.
If we doubt whether a cost is taxable and the information is missing, we err on the side of caution and include the cost in the taxable base. Clearly indicating what belongs to which car is therefore in your own interest.
Simulation beforehand. Considering a new car? Ask your account manager for our Excel simulation: it puts the tax on a petrol, diesel or hybrid car next to that on an electric one.
What does your organisation have to do?
- List your cars with purchase or contract date and drivetrain; anything from before 2026 stays out of scope.
- Considering a new car: include the tax in the comparison and ask your account manager for the simulation.
- With every car-related cost in The Lantern, mention the car in the comment field.
- With shared cars, choose an electric car where you can, and keep the invoice with the purchase date and CO2 emissions of the car used.
- Include the tax in your budget: 25% on top of the costs of a fuel car from after 2025.
- Questions: one call to your account manager is enough.
Further reading and viewing
- Webinar (in Dutch, English subtitles available): Autofiscaliteit (May 2026), with the worked example and the nuance on shared cars.
- From our newsletter (in Dutch): The new tax on transport costs in the legal entity tax: a must-read! (February 2026).
- Course part 5 of The Lantern: passing on information through the comment field.
- Cambio: taxation of car sharing ↗, with their position on the legal entity tax (January 2026).
State of the legislation: September 2026. Sources: the law of 25 November 2021 on the fiscal and social greening of mobility (art. 223 of the Belgian Income Tax Code 1992) and circular 2025/C/71 of 24 November 2025 of the Belgian Ministry of Finance. There is no official position yet on vehicles for paid passenger transport with volunteer drivers or on shared cars; the above is how de kleine prins applies the rules today. If in doubt, ask your account manager.