Associations on the attack: 'Taxation to be brought into line with European standards'

Tax policies on company fleets are at the centre of the reflections of the associations active in the mobility sector (corporate and otherwise) at the end of 2024. Unrae insists on taxation as a lever for an increasingly sustainable fleet. "With the elimination of the Ecobonus from 2025," says Andrea Cardinali, director general of Unrae, "support for the energy transition (on the demand side) and the renewal of the car fleet has left the government's priorities. However, for Unrae these objectives remain achievable through a revision of taxation on company cars'. Deductibility ceilings, stuck in 1997, the progressive reduction of deductions for cars in non-exclusive use and for professionals down to 20 per cent, together with VAT deductibility limited to 40 per cent (in derogation of EU regulations for almost 40 years), create a competitive gap for all Italian companies compared to European competitors. This is why "Unrae proposes to reward zero or low emission cars up to 60 g/Km CO2 with higher tax deductions and depreciation reduced to two years for pooled vehicles, those of professionals or those assigned to employees for mixed use".

Aniasa also sides with Unrae. 'Car rental companies,' stresses Pietro Teofilatto, Aniasa's director of taxation and economics, 'currently represent the main channel for the spread of electric and hybrid vehicles. It is of paramount importance to proceed with the implementation of the enabling act for tax reform, paying particular attention to the tax regime for company cars, which has remained largely unchanged in Italy since the 1990s. Intervening on the deductibility of costs for these vehicles, modulating it according to CO2 emissions, would be a significant step towards aligning our tax legislation with the standards of other European countries'.

The recent reform of taxation on fringe benefit cars, which favours the adoption of electrified and electric cars, therefore remains one of the most discussed elements in this period (see also the report on page 1). "The Budget law," says Francesco Naso, secretary general of Motus-E, "is about to mark a significant watershed in the corporate fleet sector, with the introduction of benefits for electrified vehicles with external recharging and the application of a malus for cars with CO2 emissions exceeding 61 g/km. This measure will undoubtedly contribute to an increase in the market share of electric and plug-in vehicles, "encouraging employees to choose the full-electric solution, with companies also continuing to benefit from incentives for the development of company charging infrastructures".

"By 2025," emphasises Andrea Boraschi, director of Transport & Environment Italia, "the combined effects of greater market availability of electric vehicles, combined with the reform of the tax burden on fringe benefit cars, could bring about a significant change in market trends. To date, reasoning in terms of decarbonisation, the corporate fleet channel shows delays in the adoption of the cleanest technologies comparable to those of the private channel. This is a situation that needs to be reversed to some extent, not least because we know that the company car channel largely determines the composition of the used car channel'.

The importance of sustainability is also stressed by Aiaga, as is evident from the words of Michele Amici, board member of Aiaga. "Five years on from the objectives of the European Green Deal," says Amici, "our fleet and mobility manager associates are certainly committed to balancing these obligations with strategies and choices that also take company objectives into account. With this in mind, fleet and mobility management will be increasingly shared with each other by making increasingly integrated and sustainable mobility choices".