The theme ofcorporate car like Fringe Benefit In recent years he has known a transformation that has been accentuated with the innovations introduced starting from January 1, 2025. It is a subject that intertwines labor law, tax and business management and that affects both employees who receive a vehicle in use and companies in planning fleet costs.
The legislation has rewritten criteria and percentages, set new thresholds of exemption and imposed clarifications through circular 10/E of 3 July 2025 of the Revenue Agency, a synthetic document to orient themselves between old and new rules.
The concept of Fringe Benefit and the updated discipline
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By Fringe Benefit means any form of salary in nature that a worker perceives together with the salary. The company car in promiscuous use, i.e. used both for work needs and for private purposes, is fully part of this definition and generates a value that must be quantified in the paycheck, with consequent taxation for tax and social security purposes.
The novelty of 2025 is that, after years of rules connected to CO2 emissions, the legislator decided to simplify by passing to a criterion linked only to the feeding of the vehicle. The percentage to be applied is therefore no longer differentiated by pollution levels, but depends on the fact that the car is traditional, plug-in or electric hybrid.
The exemption thresholds and particular cases
The legislator also confirmed for the three-year period 2025-2027 the exemption thresholds already known to the operators, setting the annual limit of benefits free of taxes and contributions for all workers and two thousand euros for those who have those with those who have fiscally dependent children. If the value of the fringe benefits, then adding cars and other goods or services granted by the company, exceeds these figures, The entire amount becomes taxable And not just the surplus.
Alongside these two general thresholds, the Budget Law 2025 introduced an additional roof of up to five thousand euros per year, but limited to a case: that of the newly -like -term assumptions who transfer the residence of over one hundred kilometers for work reasons. In this hypothesis, deduction concerns only the rental and maintenance costs of the property, does not cover social security contributions and does not apply to corporate cars, but and a sign of attention to the issue of work mobility.
The new method of calculating Fringe Benefit Auto
From January 1, 2025, for all vehicles registered and assigned with a contract signed after this date, the tax base is calculated by multiplying the mileage cost identified by ACI tabelle For fifteen thousand kilometers per year. A percentage is thus obtained on the result that varies according to the power supply: 50% for petrol cars, diesel or Mild Hybrid, 20% for plug-in hybrids and 10% for pure electricity.
It is a substantial simplification with respect to the past to make the tax burden associated with a certain model immediately predictable. The Aci tables, published every year in the Official Gazette, remain the tool for companies and work consultants Because they provide the official mileage cost for brand and model.
The transitional regime and vehicles already in circulation
To avoid jolts, the legislator has provided for a transitional regime valid until 30 June 2025. For vehicles ordered by 31 December 2024 and delivered within the first half of 2025, the old percentages connected to carbon dioxide emissions continue to apply, which went from 25% for the most ecological cars of up to 60% for the most polluting ones. The conditions for the vehicles already assigned between July 1, 2020 and 31 December 2024 remain unchanged which retain the old regime until the expiry of the contract.
For cars given in use before July 1, 2020, the historical criterion of 30% on the annual conventional cost continues to apply. The overlap of the regimes can create interpretative complexities, but the circular of the Revenue Agency clarified that, in cases where both the new and transitory discipline can be applied, the employer can choose the most favorable one.
A numerical example of calculation
To understand how the system works, it is better to give an example. Suppose that – according to the ACI tables – a corporate car has a kilometer cost of 50 cents. Multiplying by 15,000 kilometers, an annual conventional cost of 7,500 euros is obtained. If the vehicle is petrol or diesel, the percentage applicable is 50% for an annual fringe benefit of 3,750 euros.
If, on the other hand, it is a plug-in hybrid, the percentage drops to 20% and therefore the taxable benefit becomes 1,500 euros. Finally, for an electric, the calculation is 10% and therefore 750 euros. In the event that the employee contributes economically to the personal use of the vehicle, the sums detained must be deducted from this amount and consequently the taxable man who flows into the paycheck is reduced.
Taxation in paychecks and ratio with the thresholds
The value of the fringe benefit thus determined comes Added to monthly salary and taxed with the personal income tax according to the worker’s personal brackets, as well as being subject to local additional.
Unless falling into the exemption franchises is also subject to social security contributions. The relationship with the thresholds is decisive: if the sum of all the benefits granted in the year exceeds the thousand or two thousand euros, the entire amount becomes taxable and not only the excess part. In practice, an electric car, with annual conventional value of 750 euros, can fall into the franchise, while a traditional car risks making it overcome and make other benefits of less value taxable.
On the corporate side, the promiscuous use of the car by the employee affects the deductibility of costs. In this case, the company can deduce 70% of all the costs related to the vehicle, including rental fees, fuel, electric recharges and maintenance. This is a more favorable treatment than the ordinary regime which for vehicles not assigned to employees limits the 20% deduction with maximum roofs.
As regards VAT, the legislation continues to provide for a flat -rate deductibility of 40%, except in the case in which the company reacted to the employee the entire normal value of the benefit, issuing the invoice: in this scenario the deduction can reach 100%. Here too, the choice between deductions to the employee and full re -appeal affects the overall tax convenience.
Reassignions and contractual extensions
A non -secondary aspect concerns the fate of contracts already in place. The extension of a assignment to the same employee does not determine the birth of a new contract and therefore allows you to continue with the original regime.
The case of the reassignment to another employee: In this scenario a new contract opens and the registration date and delivery of the vehicle must be verified to establish which discipline to apply. The difference is not insignificant because it can involve the transition from a more heavy taxation to a more favorable or vice versa.
