Both the RAI Association and VNA Lease are calling for more attention to sustainability in response to the Budget Memorandum. The RAI Association calls for more attention to the growing need for more healthy individual mobility. VNA Lease in turn calls for more attention to the further greening of the Dutch car fleet. BOVAG, for its part, calls for attention to the adjustment of the rules around BPM. A VAT change threatens to make new vehicles more expensive.
According to industry association for manufacturers and importers in mobility RAI Vereniging, the cabinet is taking an important step towards strengthening the economy with the planned extra investments in mobility, among other things. However, the industry association calls on the cabinet to also use the funds to support the growing need for healthier individual mobility. According to RAI Association president Steven van Eijck, this means not only investments in infrastructure, but above all measures to lower the threshold for certain means of transport.
Specifically, the RAI Association advocates further encouraging the business use of two-wheelers, accelerating the greening of the vehicle fleet, and investing in innovation and R&D. “The government is either ignoring or postponing relevant proposals for concrete measures that can be implemented easily and in the short term. And if no structural solution to the nitrogen problem is found in the short term, all (additional) investments in, for example, infrastructure will be of little value for the time being. A missed opportunity,” says Van Eijck.
More focus on greening
VNA, the Association of Dutch Car Leasing Companies, sees important impulses in the Budget Memorandum for the Dutch economy, which is expected to grow by 3.5% next year. According to the industry association, one positive aspect is that 1.5 billion euros of investments in infrastructure will be brought forward. A sum of 20 billion euros will also be invested over a five-year period, including 6.6 billion euros in infrastructure.
VNA does call for more attention to the further greening of the Dutch car fleet. Renate Hemerik, chairman VNA: "The government has saved the business community from a hard landing. The National Growth Fund and the Budget Memorandum offer perspective for recovery. We are pleased that the Netherlands wants to 'invest its way out of the crisis'. The extra attention to infrastructure is positive. We would also like to see this attention in further greening of the Dutch car fleet."
Higher additional tax rate
For example, the addition rate for electric cars will rise from 8% to 12% in 2021. The market share of electric cars is growing, so the government no longer sees any reason for additional incentives. Hemerik: "We understand that incentives will eventually be phased out. But increasing the additional tax rate on EVs to 12% really comes a year too soon in our view. We think the effects, structural or otherwise, of corona are still far too uncertain. EV deployment among both employers and employees needs every support, even in 2021. It is a fallacy to think that the greening of the Dutch car fleet will succeed at the right speed without tax incentives."
Currently, 1.5% of the Dutch car fleet is fully electric. However, due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, sales of new passenger cars and thus electric cars have declined. This threatens to delay the greening of the Dutch car fleet. The VNA sees the previously instituted purchase subsidy for new and used electric cars as a nice star to continue encouraging sustainable choices by individuals. However, additional steps are needed, according to the industry association.
Hemerik: "Corona has led to a greater need for individual means of transport, including cars. This makes it extra important to intensify greening of the vehicle fleet. A broader incentive for zero-emission and fuel-efficient new cars, such as PHEVs and hybrids, would help."
Tax on tax
Trade association for entrepreneurs in mobility BOVAG, for its part, is warning against a change in the rules surrounding BPM, the tax on cars, motorbikes and motorhomes. The moment at which the amount of BPM is paid and must be paid by the importer or dealers to the tax authorities is changing. This moment will henceforth coincide with the moment of first registration of the new car, also known as part 1a. The measure is intended to save the tax authorities 'a lot of work', but according to BOVAG - probably unintentionally - brings about another effect. For example, a new petrol car could become about 1,000 euros more expensive on average. A diesel car can become as much as 2,000 euros more expensive. For motorhomes, the price difference can reach tens of thousands of euros.
This is due to the threat of VAT being charged on BPM. "Tax on tax, that is," as BOVAG describes it. At the moment, the amount of BPM is provisionally determined at the time of registration (1a). The BPM is then finally determined and remitted when the car is registered (1b). Because the BPM remittance to the Tax Administration is currently very close to the delivery of the car to the customer, a car company remits the BPM on behalf of the customer, according to the Tax Administration. This is also known as a standing item. As a result, no VAT has to be paid on the BPM.
No more continuous mail
In the new situation, this will change and there will no longer be a continuous item. This basically means that VAT has to be paid on BPM, which BOVAG says is tax on tax. "Incidentally, this problem does not only affect new vehicles. Used vehicles that do not fall under the so-called margin scheme, whether imported or traded on the Dutch market, will also face this problem," writes BOVAG.
The trade association will draw the attention of the Tax and Customs Administration, the Ministry of Finance and politicians to this effect and ask them to ensure that car buyers do not have to pay tax on tax. “After all, car taxes in the Netherlands are already among the very highest in Europe,” says BOVAG.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
