Company car and maintenance: how the benefit in kind counts

Does a company car count as income for maintenance?

Yes, a company car counts as income for maintenance to the extent that you may use it privately. Under the maintenance guidelines of the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt (Unterhaltsgrundsätze des OLG Frankfurt), non-cash benefits from an employer, such as a company car, are income Frankfurt maintenance guidelines 2026, no. 4. They count to the extent that they save you expenses of your own. If you may also drive the car in the evenings, on weekends and on vacation, you do not need a car of your own, and that saving increases your income.

Child support follows the same rule. The benefit can lift your income into a higher income group of the Düsseldorf table, as explained in Child support: how to read the Düsseldorf table.

How much the company car counts for

A company car counts for as much as a car of your own would cost. The 1% rule (1-Prozent-Regel) from tax law offers a guide, nothing more. For a gross list price (Bruttolistenpreis) of €60,000, tax law sets the benefit at €600 a month. For maintenance purposes, the value can be lower if the family would not have bought such an expensive car for themselves. What counts then is the cost of a comparable car of your own. The court estimates the benefit in each individual case OLG Hamm, decision of December 10, 2013, 2 UF 216/12.

In the calculation, the benefit is added to net income. The tax on the benefit in kind (geldwerter Vorteil) has already been deducted on the payslip, so the net pay that reaches your account is lower than it would be without a company car.

What the company car means for commuting costs

If you drive to work in the company car, you cannot deduct commuting costs from your income, because your employer bears those costs. Without a company car, commuting costs could be taken into account as work-related expenses. If they are itemized, the Frankfurt guidelines as a rule count them at the cost of public transport Frankfurt maintenance guidelines 2026, no. 10.2.2.

Electric and hybrid cars

For electric and hybrid vehicles, German tax law counts only a fraction of the list price as the benefit, currently 0.25% a month for many fully electric cars. For maintenance, however, it still comes down to the costs you save. Courts go by the costs of a comparable car of your own; the tax advantage does not set the amount.

What to include in the disclosure of income

With a company car, the disclosure of your income includes:

• the payslips for the last twelve months, which show the benefit in kind,
• the company car agreement (Überlassungsvertrag) with the rules on private use,
• if a logbook (Fahrtenbuch) is kept, an analysis of it.

If the car may be used only for business, it does not count as income. If you rely on that, you should be able to present the agreement.

The next step

At our firm, maintenance cases are handled by attorney Mieke Karcher. The first consultation costs up to €190 plus VAT, at most €226.10 in total. If we take on your case, this fee does not apply. How further fees are calculated is explained on our costs page. For how bonuses enter the calculation, see Bonus payments and maintenance: how variable pay counts. Our page on separation and maintenance describes the overall framework.