The BMF Home-Charging Rule 2026: Documented kWh Instead of Flat Rates
What changed on 1 January 2026?
When an employee charges their company car at home, they initially bear private electricity costs for a company vehicle - and the employer reimburses these. Until the end of 2025, this reimbursement could be handled via monthly flat rates without proving the electricity quantity actually charged. With the BMF letter of 11 November 2025, the tax authorities abolished this flat-rate arrangement as of 1 January 2026: since then, kilowatt-hours charged at home must be reimbursed against documented meter readings.
As a simplification, a rate of 34 ct/kWh applies: instead of proving the employee's individual electricity costs, the employer can reimburse every documented kilowatt-hour at this rate. The documentation obligation for the quantity remains in place - only the valuation is simplified.
What does that mean in practice?
- Documentation: The kWh charged at home must be recorded in a traceable way - for instance via the meter of the wallbox - and be attributable to the company car and the billing period. Without a documented quantity, no reimbursement.
- Payroll: The reimbursement of proven charging costs for the company car is regularly an expense reimbursement and is handled via payroll; the documents belong to the payroll records. Coordinate the specific tax treatment with your payroll accounting or tax advisor.
- Ongoing maintenance: The ct/kWh rate can be adjusted by the legislator - the rate table should therefore be checked annually.
How FMWeb maps the rule end to end
FMWeb 10.4.0 implements the entire process in the Heimlade-Abrechnung (Home-Charging Billing) module (details in article 12):
- Recording: The driver reports the charging session via the vehicle feedback in the driver portal (fuel type "Strom" (Electricity), charging location "Zuhause" (At home), article 102). After release, a Heimlade-Sitzung (home-charging session) is created - deliberately not a cost receipt, because the employer's expense only arises with the reimbursement. Fleets without a driver portal record sessions manually.
- Rate table: You maintain the ct/kWh rates with a valid-from date (default: 34 ct/kWh from 1 January 2026). If the rate changes, simply create a new entry - this keeps the history traceable.
- Monthly billing: Per driver and month, FMWeb generates a billing covering all open sessions. The rate is frozen at generation time; later rate changes do not take effect retroactively.
- Release and booking: After a technical review, you release the billing and book it - creating an Elektro-Beleg (electricity receipt) under the cost type "Laden" (Charging) per charged vehicle (article 11). A unique import key rules out double booking.
- Handover to payroll: The CSV export provides, per driver, the personnel number and reimbursement amount; exported billings are flagged accordingly. The sum of the booked receipts always matches the exported amount.
This produces a closed chain from the documented kilowatt-hour to the payout - traceable in an audit-proof way and without double counting between vehicle costs and reimbursement.
Common questions
Does the rule also apply to public charging or charging at the employer's? No - this article concerns only the reimbursement of charging at home. Public charging sessions run as normal electricity receipts via charge-card import or driver feedback (article 11).
Do I have to use the rate of 34 ct/kWh? The rate is a simplification. Whether a different valuation comes into consideration in your case is something to clarify with your tax advisor; in FMWeb the rate is freely configurable.
Note: This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice.
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