Is a plug-in hybrid still worth it for your business in 2026?

For years the answer to that question was a resounding yes. Not any more. The Act of 18 December 2025 redrew the calendar again, and since 1 January 2026 everything hinges on a single question: are you buying through a company or through a sole trader business?

The short answer

• Company. A plug-in hybrid you acquire (buy, rent or lease) from 1 January 2026 is no longer deductible. Zero percent. Only fully zero-emission cars remain deductible.
• Sole trader or self-employed person in personal income tax. For you there is still a deduction scheme for plug-in hybrids, up to and including an acquisition in 2029. Depending on the CO2 emissions it runs to 75% or even 100%.
• Already ordered a PHEV before 2026? It keeps its transitional scheme: in corporate income tax 50% in 2026, 25% in 2027 and 0% from 2028.

What counts is the date of the order form (or of the lease contract), not the invoice or registration date.

What exactly has changed

The Act of 25 November 2021 on the fiscal greening of mobility phased out the deduction for cars with CO2 emissions step by step. In 2025 the government announced a relaxation for plug-in hybrids. It did arrive, but in slimmed-down form: the European Commission would not agree to a general relaxation, so the new, milder PHEV calendar applies only in personal income tax. In corporate income tax nothing has been relaxed.

In corporate income tax: three scenarios

1. Car acquired before 1 July 2023

The old scheme still applies: the gram formula, with a deduction of at least 50% and at most 100%. For cars from before 2018 a minimum of 75% applied. That floor is gradually phased out from assessment year 2027.

2. Car acquired between 1 July 2023 and 31 December 2025

This is where the transitional scheme runs. The maximum deduction falls year after year:

So if you drive a PHEV today that was ordered in that period, in 2026 you still deduct half of your car costs, and a quarter next year.

3. Car acquired from 1 January 2026

No more deduction. For every car with CO2 emissions, plug-in hybrids included. On top of that, the fuel costs of a PHEV are excluded separately: 0% deductible.

One exception still stands: the electricity costs. Charging costs for a plug-in hybrid follow the regime for electric cars, so 100% in 2026.

And the electric car?

Zero-emission remains the only fully deductible category, but the clock is ticking there too. The percentage is locked in at the moment of acquisition and then stays valid for the car's entire life:

So anyone acquiring an electric car in 2026 keeps a 100% deduction, in 2030 as well.

In personal income tax: the PHEV stays attractive

If you are self-employed with a sole trader business (a natural person with a VAT number), a separate scheme applies from assessment year 2027, with three deduction percentages by cost type.

PHEV acquired from 1 January 2026

• Fuel costs: 0%.
• Electricity costs: these follow the EV schedule above, so 100% on acquisition up to and including 2026, 95% in 2027, 90% in 2028, 82,5% in 2029, 75% in 2030 and 67,5% from 2031.
• All other car costs (depreciation, maintenance, insurance, road tax): an adjusted gram formula without a fuel coefficient, deduction % = 120% − (0,5% × CO2 emissions), with this cap:

An efficient plug-in hybrid under 50 g CO2/km therefore still gives a sole trader a 100% deduction on the car costs in 2026. That is the window the legislator deliberately left open.

PHEV acquired between 1 July 2023 and 31 December 2025

Here too a scheme of its own applies from assessment year 2027:

• Fuel costs: gram formula including the fuel coefficient, capped at 50% (assessment year 2027), 25% (AY 2028), 0% from AY 2029.
• Electricity costs: 100%.
• Other car costs: gram formula, with a cap of 75%, or 100% at emissions of no more than 50 g CO2/km.

Real versus false hybrid: the threshold has moved

This is the part you need to know before you sign, because it determines how the tax authorities see your car.

A false hybrid is a car with a combustion engine and a battery that does not meet the conditions. Its emissions are then calculated not on its own value, but on that of a comparable model running on that same fuel alone, or, if no such model exists, on its own emissions × 2,5. That wrecks your deduction and raises the driver's benefit in kind.

You are dealing with a false hybrid if:

• the battery amounts to less than 0,5 kWh per 100 kg of vehicle weight, or
• the CO2 emissions are higher than 75 g/km.

That 75 g/km is new; it used to be 50 g/km. The reason: since 1 January 2025 new plug-in hybrids have been measured under the stricter Euro 6e-bis standard, with RDE tests in real driving conditions on top of the lab test. As a result the measured emissions of virtually every PHEV rise sharply on paper. The threshold moved along with it, to avoid models that changed nothing suddenly being labelled "false". From 2026 every newly sold PHEV has to meet that standard, including models type-approved before 2025.

Watch out when comparing cars: a PHEV with an old type approval of 38 g/km and an identical model with a Euro 6e-bis value of 68 g/km are the same car. The figures are not comparable: the measuring method changed, the car did not.

Benefit in kind (BIK) and the CO2 contribution in 2026

Two figures that move every year, and that help determine what a company car really costs.

Benefit in kind. The reference emissions for 2026 are 70 g/km for petrol, LPG and natural gas and 58 g/km for diesel (they were 71 and 59 in 2025). The CO2 percentage is 5,5 + (CO2 car − reference) × 0,1, with a minimum of 4% and a maximum of 18%. For electric cars it is always 4%. The BIK is never less than € 1 690 a year. Because the reference value drops, the BIK rises slightly, barely so this year, because the share of new electric company cars is stagnating.

The CO2 contribution: the argument that has disappeared

The solidarity contribution, popularly known as the CO2 tax, is a monthly social security contribution paid by the employer when an employee is also allowed to use their company car privately. It is entirely separate from deductibility and from the benefit in kind.

The basic formula starts from the CO2 emissions (Y, in g/km) and the fuel type:

• petrol (and petrol PHEV): [(Y × € 9) − 768] ÷ 12
• diesel (and diesel PHEV): [(Y × € 9) − 600] ÷ 12
• LPG, CNG or methane: [(Y × € 9) − 990] ÷ 12
• electric: a fixed base amount

Two corrections are applied to that result. First the indexation: for 2026 you multiply by 185,85 and divide by 114,08, which comes down to a coefficient of 1,6291 (in 2025 it was 1,5948). Then, for every vehicle bought, rented or leased from 1 July 2023, a multiplication factor. It rises year after year:

That factor applies to every vehicle with CO2 emissions, plug-in hybrids included. There is no exception for PHEVs. For cars bought or leased before 1 July 2023, no multiplication factor is applied at all.

Why, as a PHEV driver, you barely notice it in practice

Because the formula subtracts a fixed amount (€ 768 for petrol), it produces a negative result at low emissions. A negative amount times 4 stays negative. And that is the moment the minimum kicks in, which, and this is crucial, is itself never multiplied by the multiplication factor.

The Belgian social security office (RSZ/ONSS) illustrates this with a petrol plug-in hybrid at 22 g/km, ordered in July 2023: the calculated contribution comes out at −€ 71,47, after applying factor 2,25 to −€ 160,80. Because that is below the minimum, you simply pay the minimum.

For 2026 that minimum is:

Work the formula backwards and a petrol PHEV stays on that minimum up to roughly 94 g/km, and a diesel PHEV up to roughly 75 g/km. Above that, factor 4 really does start to bite, and that is where the catch lies: because of Euro 6e-bis measurement, the type-approved CO2 values of plug-in hybrids are climbing sharply. A PHEV that goes from 45 to 80 g/km on paper changes nothing technically, but does shift towards that limit. For a diesel PHEV it can even go past it.

The point many entrepreneurs miss

In 2022 a plug-in hybrid was a winner on this front too: you fell below the minimum and paid a little over € 20 a month. Today you still fall below that same minimum, except that the minimum is now € 42,34, and that is exactly the same amount as for a fully electric car. On top of that, the non-indexed minimum keeps rising: € 25,99 in 2026, € 28,57 in 2027 and € 31,15 in 2028.

In other words: on the CO2 contribution a PHEV no longer gives you any advantage over electric. The argument has disappeared not so much because the PHEV scores worse, but because the floor has been raised for everyone.

If, as a self-employed person or company director, you drive the car yourself and your company does not make it available to an employee, the contribution is not due. The RSZ/ONSS does, however, automatically assume that there is private use by an employee as soon as a car is in the employer's name or leased. It is up to you to demonstrate that this is not the case.

And if you buy privately? Then a plug-in hybrid does stay advantageous

Everything above is about deductibility, and that only counts if you buy through a company or a sole trader business. If you buy privately, something else comes into play: the Flemish vehicle taxes. And there a plug-in hybrid still wins comfortably against a comparable petrol or diesel car.

Vehicle registration tax (BIV)

In Flanders the registration tax is calculated with a formula in which the CO2 emissions are raised to the sixth power. That sounds technical, but the effect is simple: below a certain level of emissions the amount collapses, above it the amount shoots up.

On top of that CO2 part comes a fixed air component per fuel and euro standard. For the assessment year 01/07/2026 – 30/06/2027 it is:

• petrol euro 6: € 28,54
• diesel euro 6: € 628,29

For tax purposes a plug-in hybrid is a petrol car with a low CO2 value. Both factors work in your favour: the CO2 part stays small and the air component is the petrol one. In practice a PHEV therefore lands on, or just above, the minimum registration tax of € 58,16 (the amount from 01/07/2026). A diesel car pays € 628 in air component alone, before the CO2 part is even counted. A petrol car around 150 g/km is quickly in the region of € 900.

If you buy second-hand, the base amount is also reduced according to the age of the car: 10% less after one year, 20% after two years, up to 90% less after fourteen years.

Annual road tax

For cars registered from 2021 onwards, the green road tax applies: a base amount according to fiscal horsepower, which is then adjusted.

• −0,30% per gram of CO2 below 149 g/km (up to a maximum of 24 g/km), or +0,30% per gram above it
• −15% for petrol euro 6, +15% for diesel euro 6
• plus a 10% municipal surcharge (opdeciem) for the municipality

So a plug-in hybrid picks up two discounts at once here: the big CO2 discount and the petrol discount. A diesel gets a 15% surcharge and a much smaller (or no) CO2 discount.

And the electric car?

Since 1 January 2026, electric is no longer fully exempt in Flanders. An EV registered from that date pays a flat-rate registration tax of € 61,50 and a flat-rate annual road tax of € 107,16 (municipal surcharge included). Electric cars registered no later than 31 December 2025 do remain exempt, even if you buy them second-hand later on.

Both amounts remain low. But on this point the gap between electric and plug-in hybrid has become much smaller than it was.

> Please note: these are the Flemish rules. Brussels and Wallonia use their own calculation. Want the exact amount for a specific car? Use the simulator of the Flemish Tax Administration (Vlaamse Belastingdienst), or ask us. We work it out for every car in our stock.

What does this mean if you are looking for a car today?

We sell young second-hand cars, so this is the question we get most often: does that old, favourable scheme still apply if I buy a PHEV from 2023?

No. What counts is the moment you acquire the car, not when it was first registered. If you buy a second-hand plug-in hybrid through your company in 2026, you fall under the 2026 rules, so no deduction. The favourable transitional scheme does not travel with the previous owner.

Concretely:

• Company, car needed now. Electric is then the only answer that makes tax sense. 100% deduction on acquisition in 2026, and that percentage stays valid for life.
• Sole trader. A plug-in hybrid remains a defensible choice, certainly under 50 g CO2/km. Do count on 0% for your fuel.
• Private. Deductibility plays no role here, but the vehicle taxes do, and there a plug-in hybrid stays clearly cheaper than a comparable petrol or diesel car (see above). One thing remains true: a PHEV is only a good car if you charge it every day and cover your commute electrically. If you don't, you are lugging around a battery you never use and burning more fuel than you would with an ordinary petrol car.

Looking for a car that is still fully deductible in corporate income tax? Then you end up with electric. Have a look at our electric and plug-in hybrid cars in stock.

Torn between the two? Come and see us, we'll work it through together based on your actual mileage and charging options. We'd rather sell you the right car than the most expensive one.

_This text is a general explanation based on the Act of 25 November 2021 on the fiscal and social greening of mobility, the Act of 18 December 2025 containing various provisions, the reference CO2 emissions and indexation coefficients for 2026, and the rates of the Flemish Tax Administration (Vlaamse Belastingdienst) for 01/07/2026 – 30/06/2027. The situation is updated to July 2026. It is not tax advice: always put your specific situation to your accountant._