2,000 lease drivers affected by additional tax error

Thousands of people may have overpaid additional tax for leasing their electric company car in 2020. According to leasing company Ayvens, formerly known as ALD and now merged with the Dutch company LeasePlan, the company estimates around 2,000 people are affected, based on its own research. Last week, a court in Groningen ruled in favor of a lease driver who felt wronged after an increase in the additional tax five years ago.

In 2019, electric lease cars saw a rapid rise, Ayvens explained. This growth started in the business market, driven by the low additional tax rate of 4 percent on fully electric vehicles. In 2020, the rate was doubled to 8 percent.

The lease driver who filed the case ordered his car in 2019, but it was only delivered in 2020. He argued that he was entitled to the lower additional tax rate that applied in 2019. He said he would have made a different choice if he had known at the time of ordering that the tax rate would increase in 2020. The Tax Authority insisted the higher rate had to be paid, but the court ruled in favor of the lease driver.

Ayvens estimates that about 2,000 lease drivers experienced the same issue. “Based on the number of lease drivers in our own fleet and estimating from that to the entire Dutch leasing market, roughly 2,000 drivers ordered their electric car before July 1, 2019, and had it delivered in 2020.”

According to the leasing company, the loss per lease driver amounts to about 100 euros net per month. Over the course of a year, this can add up to more than 1,000 euros per person.

It is not yet clear what the ruling in Groningen means for other lease drivers. Others could also file lawsuits, citing this court decision.