Employees cannot demand changes to their tax withholding for the purchase of an electric vehicle

The possibility of applying specific deductions in Personal Income Tax (IRPF) often raises doubts regarding the management of monthly withholdings that companies perform on behalf of their employees. Recently, the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) addressed a matter concerning the acquisition of electric vehicles and its impact on payroll.

What the DGT has ruled

The query analyzed whether an employer is obliged to regularize a worker's withholding rate when the worker may benefit from the deduction established in the fifty-eighth additional provision of the IRPF Law for the purchase of an electric vehicle. After analyzing the applicable regulations, the DGT determined that the existence of this deduction does not constitute grounds for regularizing the withholding rate.

The criteria are based on the application of the Personal Income Tax Regulation (RIRPF) and the IRPF Law itself, establishing that the company is not obliged to adjust the withholding percentage on the payslip based on this specific deduction concept.

What this means for you

If you are an employee who has acquired an electric vehicle and intends to benefit from the corresponding deduction, you should take the following implications into account:

• No impact on payroll: You cannot demand that your company reduce the monthly withholding rate on your payslip for this reason.
• Management in the tax return: The deduction must be managed directly at the time of filing the annual IRPF tax return, not on a monthly basis through the company.
• Taxpayer responsibility: The regularization of the tax burden derived from this deduction falls upon the taxpayer themselves when submitting their annual settlement to the Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria).

What is advisable to do

Given this situation, it is necessary to assess each particular case to ensure that the deduction is applied correctly in the annual tax return. Since the company will not modify your withholdings, it is fundamental to have all the documentation proving the acquisition of the vehicle and compliance with legal requirements to avoid errors in the tax settlement at the end of the fiscal year.