New rules for company cars and travel expenses: what changes in 2025

The easing of the tax squeeze on company cars, considered polluting, granted by an amendment of the rapporteurs to the Bills Bill, remains confined to the first half of this year. The proposed amendment, which was approved by the Productive Activities Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, excludes vehicles ordered in 2024 and to be deliveredby 30 June from the tax increase provided for in the last budget law. In the last few hours there had been speculation in majority circles that the Ministry of the Economy might 'open up' to the passing of this deadline, but a check on the costs involved resulted, we learn, in a negative response. The Bills Decree is expected in the House on Monday, 14 April when a request for a vote of confidence is expected. The measure, which expires on 29 April, will then go to the Senate for a second reading.

Before the last manoeuvre, the value of the fringe benefit on company cars, subject to taxation, was equal to a percentage of the kilometric cost that varied according to the vehicle's emissions. The taxable percentage went from 25 per cent of the kilometric cost (calculated on a mileage of 15,000 kilometres per year) for vehicles with CO2 emissions of less than 60g/km up to 50 per cent for vehicles with emissions of more than 190g/km. Instead, the new system introduced by the Budget Law distinguishes the taxation of the benefit according to the type of fuel, raising the taxable amount to 50% of the kilometric cost for all petrol and diesel vehicles regardless of emissions. The percentage drops to 20% for plug-in hybrids and 10% for electric vehicles.

And in the very same hours in which the parliamentary 'response' was formalised, and while waiting for the new salvage provided for by the Bollette decree to come into force, the Fondazione Studi Consulenti del Lavoro published an in-depth study entitled: 'Fringe benefit vehicles and traceability of travel expenses: what changes from this year', by Giuseppe Buscema and Michele Donati. More generally, in fact, as of 1 January 2025, with the entry into force of the Budget Law 2025 (Law 207/2024), the rules have changed on two fronts. The first is, precisely, that of company vehicles granted for mixed use. But there is a second strand that has seen changes, and that is that of expenses for board, lodging and transport for travel, which have become exempt from taxation only if paid by traceable means. Otherwise, these amounts will contribute to taxable income and will be non-deductible for the company.

Let's start with company cars. As we wrote, the new rules remodel the taxable value according to the type of vehicle and its environmental impact. The aim is to incentivise the use of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, for which more favourable tax treatment is provided. In the document, the Study Foundation also highlights the impact on flat-rate allowances and the need for regulatory clarification in cases of vehicle registration and assignment between 2024 and 2025. "A first fact that emerges from the new wording of the rule," the document reads, "with a significant impact in terms of the tax due, is the increase in the values in kind deriving from the assignment for mixed use of vehicles that, although characterised by low emissions, no longer fall into the category of electric vehicles, or plug-in hybrids. The regulations applicable until 31 December 2024, in fact, tied the determination of the taxable income for IRPEF purposes of vehicles assigned to employees to carbon dioxide emission values'.

According to the Study Foundation, 'the principle that provides for the possibility of applying the previous discipline to vehicles that as of 31 December 2024 were already registered and granted in mixed use to employees within the same terms must be considered implicitly operative'.