Proposed greening of lease market affects both employers and Director Mayor Shareholders

The State Secretary recently sent the 2025 fiscal policy and implementation agenda to the House of Representatives. However, he also provided an overview of the provisional content of the 2026 tax plan as well as a number of separate legislative proposals.

Part of these plans is a new standard for the lease market. If it is up to the government, employers (and also the Director Major Shareholder, hereinafter DGA) will be faced with a pseudo final levy of 52% (based on the catalogue value of the lease car) from 2027 if the employer allows private use of a non-emission-free car after this date. With this measure, the government aims to achieve an accelerated transition to electric or hydrogen cars in order to meet its emission targets. Since this concerns a pseudo final levy (similar to that for the excessive severance payment and the WKR), recovery from the (individual) employee does not seem possible. Furthermore, the government seems to ignore in this proposal that lease contracts are concluded for a certain duration and cannot be bought off or terminated prematurely without financial consequences. Prohibiting private use by the employee in question may seem like a logical option, but without a "transition period" or offering the employee the opportunity to switch to a zero-emission car, this does not seem to be a feasible option in the current tight labor market. The necessary approval from the Works Council (if applicable) in connection with the necessary adjustment of the mobility plan is also a hurdle to overcome. Although the above refers to an employer-employee relationship, the DGA (as "employee" of his own company) will also be affected by this proposed measure. From a non-fiscal perspective, the question also arises whether the current Dutch electric infrastructure can handle this accelerated switch to zero-emission driving and what budgetary consequences this proposal will have for the leasing companies in question.

At the moment, however, this is only a proposal. One may hope for, when discussed in the House of Representatives, the introduction of transitional law whereby at least existing lease contracts will be respected as of, for example, lease contracts existing as per the end of 2025. Of course, we will keep you informed of further developments!