Salary Sacrificing vs a normal Tax deduction on an Electric Car. What can I package/ claim around running costs?

tunzafun001 on 25/10/2019 - 12:28
Last edited 25/10/2019 - 15:42

So I'm at a work T&D, bored out of my mind with endless thinking time…and someone just delivered a Sal Sacrifice speech and had no answers to this idea.

Without petrol, the running costs are electricity charges from home (usage and supply).

In the case of a blackout, to charge your car (for work purposes) you would need a battery back up system (which I assume are all linked to a solar system). Alternatively, this is also a necessary expense off-grid.

Even without it, how much of my electricity bill do you think would be claimable or packaged.

*Note - I normally use a travel log/ odometer readout to claim 45% of my car and running costs for work use.

Cheers

Financial

Comments

  • GG57 on 25/10/2019 - 12:44

    I haven't looked, but I would be surprised if the ATO has not developed a policy for electric vehicle expenses.

    Your suggestion that you also need a back-up charging system might be tenuous; are power outages common in your area? How long do they (usually) last?
    Probably a bit like us all needing to keep a supply of fuel just in case all the fuel stations run out.

    • tunzafun001 on 25/10/2019 - 13:35
      +1

      In SA… in summer, rolling power outages are very common. The difference between fuel is that there are heaps of places to get it. In Adelaide metro there is 1 single type 1 Publc charging station, and your own home. If the government rolled out the infrastructure I would say a claim would be un-reasonable. But to save them paying for infrastructure, make the home base deductible.

      This would also make reaching carbon omission targets much easier…except for china who would be pumping out solar panels and batteries!

      I guess a lot of tax deductibles are very 'yeah, good on you' at face value (for example, negative gearing property). But when you look at the idea of saving building and maintenance costs at the expense of a few thousand in deductions, it makes sense (unless you are a first home buyer in a hot market). But from a pure government perspective, it could be in their interests.

      *Note - just searched ATO+electric vehicle. Could only find the 66c/ km allowance for both electric and petrol cars (which is massively outdated for petrol cars when you look at the peak price of petrol).

      • lewislardboy on 25/10/2019 - 14:14

        Are rolling outages really that common, though? I could be wrong — but since the Tesla-built battery solution went onto the network, i think there has only been 1 major outage, and that was due to storm damage. That same battery, and domestic solar system feed-in, is meant to minimise the need for rolling outages. Again — I have no authority to talk on the subject, just anecdotal experience of a zero-outage year thus far.

        • tunzafun001 on 25/10/2019 - 15:24

          Don't know, but we had our first 3 days over 34 ish this week. On the way from home the traffic lights were out, house was out. No wind or storms. Cannot confirm nor deny if it was accident or load related.

          Looking right now, there are 12 or more outages around the Adelaide Metro area:

          https://outage.apps.sapowernetworks.com.au/OutageReport/Outa…

      • OZBMate8911 on 26/10/2019 - 09:31

        It's 68c/km now.

  • GG57 on 25/10/2019 - 14:33

    For salary sacrifice, I can see at least one company willing to discuss financing of electric vehicles.
    I imagine that would only cover the initial purchase cost and the ongoing running costs. That would include electricity usage, tyres, registration, servicing, insurance, etc., but would not cover costs related to contingencies for events that may or may not happen.
    Same as a petrol or diesel, the budget is then adjusted against actual costs incurred.

    • tunzafun001 on 25/10/2019 - 15:39

      The Maxia rep said that the cost of installing charging infrastructure is able to be packaged. So I would go with a charging station with a built in battery + vehicle to home potential. Which means you can use your car battery as a solar bank (potential game changer here).

      So from a Salary Sac perspective it's potentially doable. Just want to know the ATO's position. I noticed you cant email the ATO, so I sent them a message on their Facebook page (what a world ey!!)

  • tunzafun001 on 25/10/2019 - 15:45

    ..or maybe a pre tax e-bike…

    https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/newsroom/2017/11/28/salary…

  • whooah1979 on 25/10/2019 - 19:12

    Op, are you thinking of buying an EV to save money (TCO)?

    • tunzafun001 on 25/10/2019 - 23:31

      TCO??

      I currently drive a PHEV, but haven't done my tax this year yet (plus the Maxia packaging chat got me thinking.

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