As a shareholder or shareholder of a GmbH, entrepreneurs sometimes do not need a monthly salary to finance their standard of living. One reason for this can be in capital or rental income, another is that the GmbH was founded in addition to an existing employee relationship. In this case, it can be tax attractive to leave a company car without a managing director's salary to the shareholder-managing director.
But what are the requirements here – and under what circumstances can the tax office assume a hidden profit distribution (vGA)?
1st principle: company cars without executive salary excluded
From a purely tax point of view, the GmbH cannot leave a company car to its Managing Director without a Managing Director's salary. Because the company car with its reference value in kind according to § 8 paragraph 2 EStG is considered as wage payment within the meaning of § 19 paragraph 1 no. 1 EStG. The reference value in kind is usually determined by the so-called 1% method, so that 1% of the gross list price of the vehicle is taxable for each month of private use.
If the company provides its managing director with a company car, this transfer always leads to an income tax salary. This is taxable on a private level by the Managing Director. The GmbH must withhold wage tax if the sum of the “salary payments” exceeds the basic allowance.
The phrase “cars without managing director’s salary” therefore means that no further salary payments are made in addition to the provision of the company car. The remuneration of the Managing Director therefore consists exclusively in the possibility of using the operational vehicle.
2nd company car without managing director salary as hidden profit distribution
While there are at least no payroll tax questions for the company car without a managing director’s salary, these arise with regard to the existence of a hidden profit distribution (vGA). However, this topic only concerns matters in which the managing director is also involved in the share capital of the GmbH.
According to R 8.5 paragraph 1 KStR, a hidden distribution of profits is always present if a corporation:
This article does not replace tax or legal advice in an individual case. Facts, current law, jurisdiction, documentation and implementation remain decisive.