Taxes: the little-known advantages of your car

Several costs incurred during the purchase of your vehicle are deductible from your taxes. Indeed, fuel, insurance premiums, maintenance, repairs, loan interest (if you bought your car on credit), tire costs, as well as parking costs can be deducted from your taxes. . But several other advantages are to be known.

As part of the costs generated by its employment, carpooling is now considered a professional expense, and it is quite possible to deduct its costs on your tax return. However, you must have proof that the journey was made for professional purposes, such as a toll ticket for example, in order to make the costs deductible.

Revalued this year by 5.4% in order to take into account the consequences of inflation (increase in fuel prices, etc.), the mileage scale designates the flat-rate reimbursement of costs related to the provision of a vehicle belonging to an individual for the purposes of professional practice.

It is, as the website of the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty tells us (economie.gouv.fr): “calculated according to the power of the vehicle and the number of kilometers travelled. It includes vehicle depreciation, repair and maintenance costs, tire costs, fuel consumption and insurance premiums.”

Depending on the distance from your place of work, there are several possibilities. Indeed, the entire mileage could be taken into account in your transport costs if you live within 40 kilometers of your place of work. On the other hand, as the mileage is limited, if you exceed these kilometers, it will not be taken into account in full, but only up to 40 kilometers. However, in the event of special circumstances related to the job you hold or your family or social situation, it is possible that it will be fully taken into account.

Apart from professional expenses, the mileage scale is also part of the actual expenses that you must declare. To calculate your costs, you can go directly to the impots.gouv.fr website where there is a simple and fast simulator.

It can sometimes be more interesting to deduct its costs as actual costs, such as when their amount is greater than the standard deduction which is 10%. But do not panic, if it is more advantageous for you, it will be automatically applied to you even if you have opted for a deduction of actual costs.