Importing a Vehicle for Your Business in 2026: VAT, Penalty Tax, Depreciation

Registering a vehicle in your company's name and importing it from Germany or Europe often means 15 to 25% off the French list price. But for a company, the purchase price is only half the equation. The other half — VAT, penalty tax, depreciation, annual taxes — decides whether the deal is brilliant or disappointing.

Here is the complete guide, updated for the 2026 rules, to importing a business vehicle with your eyes open.

Why import a vehicle for your business

The reasons are the same as for an individual, amplified at company scale:

• Price: the European market, led by Germany, offers premium vehicles 15 to 25% cheaper than in France, with higher specification.
• Choice: access to configurations and engines that are unavailable or out of stock on the French market — useful when equipping several people.
• Availability: a far deeper pool of recent vehicles, so short lead times to build or renew a fleet.

But the real issue for a business is recovery and deductibility. And it all starts with a choice that changes everything.

Passenger car or commercial vehicle: the decision that changes everything

French tax law draws a sharp line between the passenger car (VP) — designed to carry people — and the commercial vehicle (VU) — designed to carry goods (2 seats, category N1). The same budget has a completely different real cost depending on which box the vehicle falls into.

In other words: on a commercial vehicle used for the business, the state gives you the VAT back, applies no penalty tax and lets you depreciate the full price. On a passenger car, the friction stacks up. This is the first question to settle — well before choosing the model.

VAT on purchase: new, used, and the margin-scheme trap

This is the most misunderstood point, and the one that costs the most when you get it wrong.

The vehicle that is "new" for tax purposes. A vehicle counts as new if it is under 6 months old or has under 6,000 km. In that case VAT is always due in France, the country of destination: the European seller invoices without tax, and your company pays French VAT (then recovers it if the vehicle qualifies).

Used, under the normal scheme. A VAT-registered company buying a used vehicle from an EU professional makes an intra-community acquisition: it reverse-charges French VAT (collected then deducted on the same return, according to its right of deduction).

The trap: the margin scheme. If the professional seller applies the VAT margin scheme (art. 297 A of the French tax code), the invoice shows no recoverable VAT: the tax applies only to the seller's margin, and you cannot recover anything. On a vehicle bought by a company that planned to deduct the VAT, that is a nasty surprise worth several thousand euros. Always check the VAT scheme on the invoice before signing.

For the official detail of the intra-community rules, the reference is the French tax bulletin – VAT on means of transport.

The 2026 penalty tax, and the discount for imported used cars

The penalty tax (malus) is due on first registration in France, company or not. In 2026 it tightens:

• CO2 penalty tax: triggered from 108 g/km (WLTP), with a cap of €80,000 reached at 192 g/km.
• Weight penalty tax: triggered from 1,500 kg, with a progressive rate of €10 to €30 per kilogram.
• The two combined remain capped at €80,000. Fully electric and hydrogen vehicles are exempt.

Good news for used imports: the penalty tax is calculated on the scale of the vehicle's year of first registration, then subject to an age-based reduction (a monthly reduction since March 2025), up to full exemption beyond roughly 15 years. A 2021 vehicle imported today is therefore not taxed at the 2026 scale.

Since the amounts change quickly, the only figure that counts is the official simulator's: penalty-tax simulator, service-public.fr. We calculate it systematically for every vehicle before any commitment.

Depreciation: what your company can actually deduct

On a passenger car, deductible depreciation is capped by CO2 emissions (art. 39-4 of the French tax code). The portion of the price above the cap is not tax-deductible.

Concretely: on a premium combustion saloon at €70,000, a large share of the price cannot be depreciated. On a commercial vehicle, by contrast, no cap applies — the full price is depreciable. Another point where the VP/VU choice weighs heavily.

Annual taxes (ex-TVS) and benefit in kind

The annual company taxes. The old TVS is gone: since 2023 it has been replaced by two separate, cumulative annual taxes — a tax on CO2 emissions and a tax on air-pollutant emissions. They target passenger cars used by the business. Electric and hydrogen vehicles are exempt from both; since 2025, hybrids are no longer exempt from the CO2 tax. True 2-seat commercial vehicles stay out of scope. As the scales change each year, refer to impots.gouv.fr.

Benefit in kind. If the imported vehicle becomes a company car (private use by the owner or an employee), it creates a benefit in kind. Since the February 2025 order, the flat-rate rose sharply: for a vehicle bought and under 5 years old, it moved to 15% of the purchase cost (without fuel) or 20% (with fuel). Fully electric vehicles, however, benefit from a 70% abatement on that benefit (capped, around €4,640 per year). A real lever when you electrify a fleet.

When importing is NOT the right call for a business

Let's be honest — there are cases where it isn't worth it:

• A small, recent petrol passenger car with a narrow Europe/France price gap: you stack non-recoverable VAT, the penalty tax and capped depreciation, with no real saving on purchase.
• Too little use: if the vehicle barely runs, the tax friction isn't offset by the purchase saving.
• A seller on the margin scheme for a vehicle where you counted on recovering the VAT.

Importing shows its full value on premium vehicles, commercial vehicles, and models where the France/Europe gap is wide — where a mistake, like a good decision, runs into the thousands of euros.

How Auto M Import handles everything for your company

We take on the entire operation for a business:

• Sourcing the exact vehicle (VP or VU) suited to your use and your tax strategy.
• Checking the VAT scheme on the invoice before any commitment — no nasty surprises on recovery.
• A systematic physical inspection before purchase.
• Tax clearance certificate (quitus fiscal) from the SIE, certificate of conformity (COC), technical inspection if the vehicle is over 4 years old, and registration in the company's name via the ANTS.
• Delivery to the address of your choice, turnkey.

You fill in no forms. You collect a vehicle ready to drive, registered in your company's name, with a clean tax file.

In summary

• VP or VU is the first decision: the commercial vehicle recovers VAT at 100%, escapes the penalty tax and capped depreciation.
• VAT on purchase depends on the seller's scheme: beware the margin scheme, which blocks all recovery.
• The 2026 penalty tax tightens (from 108 g/km, from 1,500 kg) but the imported used car is discounted — check it on the official simulator.
• Depreciation on a passenger car is capped by CO2; a commercial vehicle is not.
• Importing stays a winner on premium, commercial vehicles and wide price gaps — far less so on a small, recent passenger car.

A project for your company? Write to us: we analyse your case — VP or VU, VAT recovery, penalty tax, real cost — and tell you honestly whether importing is the right call. The analysis is free.