I have just started a novated lease with an EV, in my case, a PHEV using the below electric car exemption:
Electric cars exemption | Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au)
I have looked through many pages and cannot find a definitive way to claim the costs of charging my car at home.
My leasing company claims the only way to claim is:
- Install a separate smart meter that connects to the car charger.
- Many homes in Australia homes are getting a Smart meter installed, we have one at our house. The ATO is suggesting we have another Smart Meter installed to track charging, but my retailer and several others are saying this simply isn't possible and would ultimately cost more.
- Go to a public EV charger and provide the invoice.
- For the occasional opportunity, sure. But the purpose of a car with a battery is to be able to use it everyday and be able to charge it. Is the expectation of the ATO that I sit at a Public charging station for 3-4 hours? Is that practical?
- Public chargers are more expensive, 50c/kWh vs 15-20c/kWh that I pay at home, normally even cheaper.
- We’ve done close to 3000kms and only filled up with petrol 3 times!
As you can see, both options are completely impractical.
My current lease company is standing by these options, meaning I'm out of pocket for charging at home even though the Electric Cars Exception says I should be able to.
Previously your team have directed me to this page:
PCG 2024/2 | Legal database (ato.gov.au)
But it says this guideline does not support PHEV's:
Example 1 – not a zero emissions vehicle – plug-in hybrid
10. Zoe owns a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) which is powered by a combination of liquid fuel and electricity. PHEVs can be charged with electricity from a residential power source, but also contain an internal combustion engine that uses liquid fuel.
11. As Zoe's PHEV can be powered by electricity but also uses liquid fuel, it is not considered to be a zero emissions vehicle and Zoe is unable to rely on this Guideline.
So what can I do? What process can you provide that I can share with my lease company for them to follow?
Alternatively, can you suggest a process that I can follow to be able to claim at tax time?
Thanks
Brad
P.S. You established key words are rubbish, I tried entering "Electric Vehicle", "PHEV", "Charging"... nothing came up.
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