What is a company bike?

With a company bike, you as an employer have the option of providing your employees with a bicycle, pedelec or e-bike. The company bike can be used for both business and private trips. In this way, you can actively promote sustainable mobility behavior and at the same time offer an inexpensive and health-promoting means of mobility.

Who pays for the company bike?

As the company bike is used in the form of a leasing contract, monthly costs must be paid for the company bike leasing. The leasing rate is made up of the list price of the bike, the employee's tax class and their gross salary.

In most cases, this rate is deducted monthly from the employee's gross salary in the form of a so-called salary conversion. This has the advantage of reducing social security contributions and taxes. The employee therefore bears the costs, but can receive a subsidy with tax advantages from their employer. In the case of deferred compensation, the employer is the lessee.

In addition to salary conversion, the leasing installments can also be paid in full by the employer and granted in addition to the salary. As the company bike is regarded as a non-cash benefit in this case, there are also tax advantages and no social security contributions.

What is deferred compensation?

In the case of salary conversion, also known as deferred compensation, employees pay the leasing rate as a non-cash benefit directly from their gross salary. Only the non-cash benefit for the company bike, which is taxable, is added. This offers employees the advantage that only 0.25% of the gross list price has to be taxed as a non-cash benefit due to the tax concession. Employees therefore benefit from cost savings of up to 40% compared to a conventional bicycle purchase.

What tax regulations apply to company bikes?

In principle, employers can choose between two different implementation options for the company bike.

Option A: You grant your employees the company bike lease in addition to their salary instead of a conventional salary increase. In this variant, the company bike remains completely free of tax and social security contributions, as the non-cash benefit no longer has to be taxed since 2019.

Option B: Your employees finance the leasing installments in the form of a salary conversion. In this case, only the non-cash benefit is taxable at 0.25% of the gross list price. This leads to cost savings of up to 40% compared to a conventional bike purchase.

For which employees can the company bike be used?

In principle, the company bike can be used for all employees.

However, the company bike is not always recommended for certain employees, e.g:

Employees in their probationary period
Minijobbers
Temporary employees
Trainees
Employees approaching retirement
etc.

This is mainly due to the fact that leasing contracts (usually with a term of 36 months) are not suitable for fixed-term employment types. However, the company bike is also not the best option for employees who only work a few hours and receive a correspondingly low salary.

Which bikes can be used as company bikes?

Employees are free to choose their company bike. It only has to be a bicycle, pedelec or e-bike. Employers can also subsidize additional expenses, such as repair costs.

The following expenses for the company bicycle can be granted tax relief:

Bicycles, such as Dutch bikes or mountain bikes
Bicycle insurance, such as theft protection
Repair and maintenance costs

Can the company bike only be used for business trips?

No, the company bike can be used for both private and business trips.

How do you as an employer benefit from the company bike?

The company bike offers employers a number of advantages: Company bike leasing is exempt from social security contributions and can be deducted by the company as a business expense. In contrast to a conventional company car, there are also significantly lower purchase and maintenance costs. If the company bike is provided without deferred compensation, there are also significantly lower costs here compared to a conventional salary increase due to the absence of wage tax.

In addition to the financial aspects, employers benefit from advantages such as strengthening employee loyalty and increasing employer attractiveness. The company's image is also improved by offering sustainable forms of mobility.

Which company bike providers can I use via Probonio?

In principle, you are free to choose the provider. If you opt for bike leasing, full integration via Probonio is possible.

Translation Note: This article has been translated using automatic translation software to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the content. Despite reasonable efforts to provide an accurate translation, we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

If there are any questions regarding the accuracy of the information in the translated article, please refer to the German version of the article, which is the official version.

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