💡 A professional share must be defined for all types of vehicles: car, utility vehicle, motorcycle, bicycle.
This applies to all vehicle-related expenses: purchase or rental of the vehicle, fuel, maintenance, insurance, tires, parking, etc.
Mixed Expenses Between Private and Professional
Your vehicle is part of mixed expenses: you use it for both your professional activity and your private life. Only the professional part can be included in your expenses as a self-employed individual.
You must therefore define the professional share: the percentage of professional use compared to its total use.
All expenses related to your vehicle must be allocated in your accounting based on this professional share.
Estimate Your Annual Kilometers
1️⃣ Professional Mileage
👉 Examples of professional trips:
Trips to clients or patients, to court, to a construction site, etc.
Visits to your accountant or business counter
Trips to suppliers for purchases related to your activity
Professional training
Participation in trade shows or professional events
💡 Trips from home to the workplace are considered private, unless they are not made directly.
For example: you stop by a construction site or court before going to your usual workplace ➡️ the trip is considered entirely professional.
2️⃣ Home to Workplace Mileage
What is a workplace? It is a place you go to at least 40 times a year (e.g., your office).
Trips from home to the workplace are not considered professional, but rather private. Therefore, they do not count towards the professional use percentage of your vehicle. However, they are deductible at a flat rate of €0.15/km. Your accountant will apply this flat rate if you have home-to-workplace trips.
💡 If you have included trips to your workplace in your professional trips, with a stop at a client, court, or construction site, for example ➡️ you should not include this trip in your home-to-workplace kilometers, as it is then considered professional.
This will increase the professional percentage of your vehicle (but will reduce the flat rate of €0.15/km for home-to-workplace trips).
3️⃣ Total Mileage
You can use the total mileage you covered the previous year if you already had your car (and adjust it if your situation has changed).
Ensure that the total annual mileage is consistent, meaning it matches the sum of the following kilometers:
Home to workplace trips: see above
Professional trips: see above
Private trips: for shopping, taking your children to school or their activities, going on vacation, visiting friends, or for weekend activities (if you have no idea of the number of private kilometers you drive, assume 6,000 km/year).
Compare Professional Mileage to Total Mileage
Once these figures are estimated, the professional share simply corresponds to the professional mileage compared to the total mileage:
Professional Share (%) = (Professional km / Total km) x 100
👉 I drive 10,000 km professionally, and 20,000 km in total for the year, what is my professional share? Professional share = 10,000 / 20,000 × 100 = 50%.This leaves 10,000 km for private trips and home-to-workplace trips.
⚠️ Make sure this is consistent: if you estimated your home-to-workplace km at 10,000 km, it would mean there are no private km left ➡️ you will need to reduce the professional km or increase the total mileage.
💡 Double-check your estimates at the end of the year. An inspector could easily know the actual mileage through maintenance invoices or technical inspections.
Consider Your Need for Mobility
Beyond mileage, it is important to consider the organization of your work and the need for mobility in your activity:
Type of Profession | Explanation | Proposed Professional Share |
Sedentary | You mainly work from your office, in a fixed location, at the hospital | 0%, 25%, 50% |
Mobile | You regularly visit clients, patients, construction sites, court, nursing homes, suppliers, etc. | 50%, 75%, 90% |
⚠️ If you deduct a lot of home-to-workplace kilometers at a flat rate (€0.15/km), the professional share of your car will generally be lower.
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