Pseudo-eindheffing 2027: what does it mean for employers with a fleet?

What is the pseudo-eindheffing?

The pseudo-eindheffing is a new tax that employers will pay from 1 January 2027 as soon as an employee also uses a company car with emissions — petrol, diesel, LPG or hybrid — privately or for commuting. This applies to vehicles from the company's own fleet as well as to leased vehicles. Employers remit the levy through payroll tax and may not pass it on to the employee. The levy is intended to push employers to switch to an emission-free fleet more quickly.

Who does the pseudo-eindheffing apply to?

The levy applies to businesses in the Netherlands that make a company car with emissions available to an employee, whether that is a vehicle from their own fleet or a leased vehicle. If that employee also uses the car privately or for commuting, the pseudo-eindheffing applies.

What does the pseudo-eindheffing cost?

From 2027, a car with emissions that is also used privately will cost an employer 12 percent of the catalogue value per year: the original list price when new, including VAT, registration tax (BPM) and options. For a car worth 50,000 euros, that is 6,000 euros per year. If the car is older than 25 years, it is no longer the original new value that counts, but the market value — what the car is actually worth today.

Which cars are exempt?

Fully electric and hydrogen-powered cars are exempt from the pseudo-eindheffing. In addition, the Dutch government has announced three further exceptions.

An exemption has been announced for driving schools, since a category-B driving test must be able to be taken in a car with a manual gearbox — something electric cars do not have.

An exception has also been announced for cases where an employee's electric car is unavailable due to damage, breakdown or extended maintenance: in that case, a non-electric replacement car is expected to be allowed for a maximum of 14 consecutive calendar days without the levy applying.

It has also been announced that, until 1 January 2031, a non-electric rental car may be used temporarily, for a maximum of 7 consecutive calendar days and once per year per car, provided the rental period and the reason for it are recorded.

Does the levy also apply to cars you already have?

A transitional arrangement applies to cars that were already made available to an employee before 1 January 2027. Under current law, these cars fall outside the pseudo-eindheffing until 17 September 2030, as long as the same company continues to make the car available. The Dutch government has proposed extending this period to 1 January 2031; this is expected to be finalised on Prinsjesdag 2026 (the Dutch government's annual budget day in September).

How do you avoid the pseudo-eindheffing?

You avoid the pseudo-eindheffing for a car if it is made available exclusively for business kilometres, meaning it cannot and may not be used for private purposes at all. Note that commuting also counts as private use here, so that must be excluded as well.

Is the pseudo-eindheffing the same as bijtelling?

No. Bijtelling is a levy on the employee: a percentage of the catalogue value is added to the employee's salary as soon as they also use the company car privately. The pseudo-eindheffing is a separate levy on the employer, remitted via the payroll tax return, which may not be passed on to the employee.

Both levies can apply to the same car at the same time. The employee continues to pay bijtelling as usual, and the employer pays the pseudo-eindheffing on top of that. It is therefore not a replacement for bijtelling, but an additional levy.

There is also a substantive difference. Under bijtelling, commuting counts as business use, and bijtelling does not apply below the threshold of 500 private kilometres per year. Under the pseudo-eindheffing, that threshold does not apply, and commuting instead counts as private use.

What is a watertight mileage registration?

A mileage registration is watertight when it is complete, continuous and verifiable. For each trip, you record the date, the start and end odometer readings, the departure and arrival addresses, and the nature of the trip: business, private or commuting. If you deviate from the usual route, that needs to be substantiated.

If part of the trips is missing, or a period cannot be reconstructed, the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) can judge the entire registration to be inadequate, even if the rest is correct.

How do you avoid bijtelling on the company car?

Bijtelling does not apply if you can demonstrably show you drive no more than 500 private kilometres per year in the company car. You record this with a "Verklaring geen privégebruik auto" (declaration of no private use of the car) filed with the Belastingdienst, substantiated by a watertight mileage registration. Without that substantiation, bijtelling applies over the full catalogue value, even if in reality hardly any private driving took place.

What are the risks if your bijtelling mileage registration isn't watertight?

If the mileage registration you're relying on to avoid bijtelling isn't watertight, the Belastingdienst will assume private use. That leads to retroactive bijtelling, an additional payroll tax assessment, tax interest and possibly a fine. With a fleet of multiple vehicles across multiple years, this adds up quickly.

What automatic mileage registration gets you

Time savings. No more manual administration: every trip is recorded automatically, with the odometer reading taken directly from the vehicle.

Certainty towards the Belastingdienst. A certified system delivers watertight records that can be submitted immediately in the event of an audit.

Insight per vehicle and driver. Immediate visibility into how many kilometres were driven for business and private purposes, across the entire fleet at once. This means it's immediately noticeable if a car that should only be driven for business makes a private trip.

Automated mileage registration at GPS-Buddy

With a watertight mileage registration, you can demonstrate for every trip whether it was a business trip, a private trip or a commute. GPS-Buddy's mileage registration automatically records every trip: business, private and commuting. The system is certified with the Keurmerk RitRegistratieSystemen (Mileage Registration Systems quality mark). With a system carrying this certification, the Belastingdienst assumes the registration is watertight.

The odometer reading comes directly from the vehicle via the odometer link, over the CAN bus, and is read out rather than entered manually. Your driver indicates in the Flowter app, per trip, whether it was business, private or commuting. In the event of an audit, the records can be supplied immediately as an XAR file, the format the Belastingdienst uses for bijtelling audits.

Mileage registration is one of the solutions within Flowter, GPS-Buddy's platform. Flowter brings together driving behaviour, emissions reporting and vehicle tracking with mileage registration in a single platform. That way, you not only know where your vehicles are, but also how they are being used.

Want to know more about automated mileage registration?

Get in touch with GPS-Buddy for a no-obligation conversation about watertight, automated mileage registration for your fleet.

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This article is based on Dutch legislation and regulations as known at the time of publication. Legislation, rates and transitional arrangements may change, for example due to amendments in the Belastingplan (Tax Plan) or further regulations. No rights can be derived from the content of this article.