Motorbike on business: buying smart as a self-employed person?

When is a company motorbike interesting for self-employed people?

A company motorbike is interesting if you use it regularly for business. That means: at least 10% of your kilometres driven are for work. Do you mainly take it to clients, assignments or your business location? Then you're soon in the right place. If you drive more than 90% on business, then you should even book the bike for business.

Do you use the bike only occasionally for work? Then it is often smarter to keep it private and only charge for business trips. More on that later.

Conditions motorbike on business

As long as you drive at least 10% business, you can decide whether you count the bike as private or business assets.

If you use it for 90% or more business, you are required to put it on business.

You must be able to make the business use plausible, for example with:

• A mileage record,
• Calendar appointments or trip summaries,
• Or an explanation of your work in which the usage makes sense.

Once you choose to put the bike on your business, it will appear on your company's balance sheet. You book costs and depreciation as business expenses.

Deductible costs of a company motorbike

If you put the bike on your business, then almost all expenses are deductible. Think about:

• Fuel and maintenance,
• Insurance,
• Motor vehicle tax,
• Parking charges,
• Necessary accessories such as helmet, motorbike clothing or cases.

You can also take advantage of the purchase cost for tax purposes. If you invest more than €2,900 in a year in business assets (such as your motorbike), you are eligible for the small-scale investment deduction (KIA). This allows you to deduct an additional part of the investment from your profit. This provides an immediate tax advantage.

Writing off motorbikes as self-employed

The bike will last for several years, so you may not deduct the purchase cost all at once. Instead, you write it off over several years, usually five. Each year you deduct a portion of the cost: for example, 20% of the purchase price, less the expected residual value.

For example, do you buy a €10,000 motorbike and expect it to be worth €2,000 in five years? Then you can write off €1,600 each year. You also write off accessories above €450; cheaper purchases are deducted in one go.

Additional taxable benefit for company motorbike

Motorbikes are not subject to a fixed additional taxable benefit like cars. If you use your motorbike for both business and private purposes, you have to decide which part of the costs are private. You do this based on the number of kilometres driven. You calculate how many kilometres you drove privately and multiply that by the actual kilometre price (the total annual motorbike costs divided by the total number of kilometres).

You add the resulting amount to your profit. The remaining costs remain deductible as business expenses. Commuting here counts as business use, which is favourable. So you do not have an addition based on the catalogue value, but a settlement based on actual private use.

Sample calculation

Suppose you have €4,000 in total motorbike costs (fuel, insurance, maintenance and depreciation) in one year and drive a total of 10,000 kilometres. Of that, 2,000 kilometres are private.

The actual kilometre price is then €4,000 ÷ 10,000 = €0.40 per kilometre.

For the 2,000 private kilometres, calculate: 2.000 × €0,40 = €800.

That means adding €800 of private use to your profit. The remaining €3,200 (€4,000 - €800) remains deductible as business expenses.

VAT on a company motorbike

If you put the bike on the business for VAT as well, you may deduct the VAT on purchase, maintenance and running costs. But if you also ride privately (including commuting, which counts as private for VAT purposes), you must make a correction at the end of the year. You then declare the private part of the VAT in your last tax return of the year.

You can also keep the bike private for VAT, even if you drive it for income tax purposes on a business basis. Then you may not deduct VAT, but you don't have to make a correction either.

Electric motor on business

An electric motor can be advantageous. You pay less on maintenance and electricity is often cheaper than petrol. Until 2024, the motor vehicle tax for electric motorbikes was 0%; from 2025, you will pay 25% of the normal rate. So a nice benefit.

Note: there is no additional taxable benefit discount as with electric cars. With motorbikes, the additional taxable benefit is always based on your actual private use. Also, since 2025, you are no longer eligible for the environmental investment allowance (MIA) for an electric motorbike. However, you can still make use of the KIA.

Alternative: keep motorbike private and ride business

Do you use your bike only occasionally for business? Then you can just keep it private. You don't then have to put anything on the balance sheet or calculate an additional taxable benefit. Instead, you can deduct a fee of €0.23 per kilometre from your profit for business trips (rate 2025).

That €0.23 is a fixed amount that includes all costs such as fuel, insurance and depreciation. So you are not allowed to include separate costs. However, you must keep a comprehensive kilometre registration. For each trip, note the date, departure and destination addresses, the number of kilometres and the business purpose. You can do this in a notebook or Excel file, as long as it is complete and verifiable. This way, you can prove how much you drive on business and you won't get in trouble during an audit.

Frequently Asked Questions