Grant:
RC:
Just as a comparison: 992 GT3 lease in Germany 2700 EUR. Huracan Evo RWD Spyder 2500 EUR. Ouch. Just received the offer from my Lambo dealer, unfortunately the tax advisor said no, no Lambo for the business, Porsche is OK, even if it is 200 EUR more expensive. German taxation weirdness.
Is lease better than buy, so that you can deduct from your business?
Basically the same but right now, I'd say lease is better for various reasons.
My tax advisor was at my office yesterday, we did some calculations. Basically, 50% of my business car cost is covered by the government. Not bad. This includes lease cost, fuel, maintenance, everything. If you use a certified logbook, it can be up to 100% (not likely though since you always use the car privately).
There are several issues with buying a car:
1. Capital is locked.
2. Car becomes part of business capital (which has taxation consequences when you want to sell the car and/or want to move it into your private estate).
3. Risk of resale value at the end of ownership (usually you keep a car you buy 5 years, lease only 2-3 years), especially now with this whole EV and emissions laws situation.
Buying an expensive car privately is even more dumb and the reason is simple: You "loose" the VAT.
Let me explain: A friend, he is a pharmacist as well, bought a Mercedes AMG GT (S I think) a while ago. Privately. He didn't think his tax advisor would OK it (he would have, he didn't ask ). Last year, he wanted to sell the car because he needs a SUV for the family. No dealer wanted to buy it or take it in for an acceptable amount of money because it "lacked" VAT. If you buy the car for a business, you retain the VAT, which means that even when you sell the car, the buyer (if he owns a business) can deduct the VAT. If the car was owned privately, the VAT is "lost". I do not know if this is the same in other countries but in Germany, this is a serious problem with high end cars because if the VAT is "lost" (car bought privately), it is difficult to sell to certain types of customers.
Just imagine: AMG GT (MSRP 170k EUR), VAT would be a whopping 32k EUR or so, this is not something a dealer can ignore.
Now here comes the lease in play: If you lease a car privately(!), you still "keep" the VAT because the car is owned by the lease company, not you. This is good for both, you and the dealership who needs to take the car in after the lease.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), Mercedes GLC63 S AMG (2020), Mercedes C63 S AMG Cab (2019), Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2019 EU)