Neither white nor black. As with the acquisition of other goods, when it comes to deductions and aid to encourage the acquisition of electric vehicles, not all are benefits for taxpayers who choose to travel in a more sustainable way for the planet. While it is true that one of the new features of the 2023-2024 income campaign is that buying a car with these characteristics is tax-reduced, it is also true that those who have received public aid to pay for it must include it in their declaration.
The Tax Agency considers capital gains to be those subsidies and public aid linked to the acquisition of an asset not related to an economic activity. This is the case both for those granted for the purchase or rehabilitation of a primary residence and for those derived from a plan to encourage the purchase of sustainable vehicles.
That is why “this aid is taxed when it is collected,” explains Carmen Elena Valero, speaker of the tax commission of the Official College of Administrative Managers of Catalonia. And since they must be declared as “capital gains”, they must appear in section F1 within “Other capital gains and losses that do not derive from the transfer of assets.”
The economist and administrative manager also clarifies that public aid for the purchase of an electric vehicle is taxed on “the general base”, to which rates ranging from 19% to 47% are applied. Thus, in the case of being a beneficiary of aid from the MOVES III plan, a state program to promote sustainable mobility, the amount to be paid to the Tax Agency through personal income tax will depend on the following factors: amount of aid, tax rate that corresponds to you based on the level of income and the general base of the tax that must be applied.
“This means that those beneficiaries who receive 7,000 euros in aid (the maximum) will have to return between 1,330 and 3,290 euros, depending on their income level,” warns Valero. Therefore, those taxpayers who have to declare the income received last year for this concept must have provisioned the amount they must pay to the treasury for the aid. Otherwise, the result of the declaration could lead to a cumbersome situation.
Despite having to pay taxes for the aid, the buyer of an electric vehicle must keep in mind that in the current income campaign a deduction of 15% of the acquisition value is introduced, with a maximum annual base of 20,000 euros, when purchasing of the same occurs between June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2024. The deduction may also be applied in the case of deliveries on account within said period and under certain conditions. In total, the taxpayer may deduct up to 3,000 euros.
Likewise, a 15% deduction is introduced, with a maximum base of 4,000 euros per year, of the cost paid for the installation, within the same previous period, of battery charging systems for electric vehicles. The deduction can reduce the invoice with the Treasury by up to 600 euros.