Charge the Electric vehicle
Australians bought 72,758 electric/plug-in hybrid vehicles in the first six months of 2025. This is a 24.4% increase over the same period in 2024. Regardless of your thoughts on electric vehicles, they’re here to stay.
Have you purchased an electric vehicle and use it for work purposes? If so, then this applies to you. The ATO have issued an EV home charging rate of 4.2c per kilometre which can be applied to using your car for work/business purposes. To use this rate you must:
- Use your electric vehicle for work purposes
- Incur electricity expenses when charging your electric vehicle from home (so if you have solar power at home and don’t pay for electricity, you can’t claim vehicle costs under this method)
- Have kept the required records during the year
- Be claiming your car expenses using the log book method ie you’ve kept a logbook for 12 weeks in the last 5 years which determines what percentage you use your car for work purposes
If you choose to use the above charging rate and your vehicle can’t accurately report the percentage of your vehicles total charge based on the type of charging station, you can’t claim costs from commercial charging stations as a separate deduction.
In addition to using the charging rate, all other usual deductions apply to your vehicle (assuming you’ve kept a logbook). The above isn’t applicable to PHEVs due to their use of both fuel and electricity. It also doesn’t apply to electric motorcycles or electric scooters.
Author
Kim Jay