Odoproof Guides: Tesla Mileage, BIK & VAT in Ireland
Plain-English guides for Irish Tesla drivers and businesses on keeping a Revenue-ready mileage logbook. Understand how proven business kilometres cut your company-car BIK, support VAT recovery and stand up to a Revenue audit.
How to Cut Your Tesla Company-Car BIK With a Mileage Logbook in Ireland
In Ireland the Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) on a company car is set by your annual business kilometres and the car's CO2 category. A 0g/km Tesla sits in Category A1 for 2026, where the BIK percentage falls from 15% of Original Market Value (OMV) at 0–26,000 business km down to 6% above 48,000 business km. To claim the lower bands you must prove those kilometres with a contemporaneous logbook. Otherwise, Revenue lets your employer assume 8,000 km are private.
→VAT Recovery on a Tesla and on EV Charging in Ireland
A VAT-registered Irish business can reclaim up to 20% of the VAT on a qualifying passenger motor vehicle, such as a Tesla, if it is used at least 60% for business, tested over a two-year period. VAT on the electricity used to charge the car for business is also recoverable, apportioned by the business proportion of your mileage. In both cases the business/private mileage split is the evidence Revenue relies on, so a contemporaneous logbook makes the recovery stand up.
→Self-Employed in a Tesla: Apportioning Motor Expenses in Ireland
If you are self-employed in Ireland and use your Tesla for both business and private journeys, only the business proportion of your motor expenses and capital allowances is deductible; the private element must be added back on your Form 11. That proportion is driven by your business-versus-private mileage, so a contemporaneous logbook (date, from/to, distance in kilometres and purpose) supports your deduction and must be kept for six years.
→Tax-Free Mileage Allowance for an Electric Car in Ireland (2026)
An Irish employer can reimburse the business kilometres an employee drives in their own fully electric car free of tax at up to the Civil Service motor travel rates. Since 1 September 2022 an electric car uses the 1,201cc to 1,500cc column: 43.40c per km for the first 1,500 business km of the calendar year, 79.18c from 1,501 to 5,500 km, 31.79c from 5,501 to 25,000 km and 23.85c above 25,000 km. For 10,000 business km in 2026 the maximum is €5,248.75. Revenue still lists these rates in 2026, and they cover employer payments only.
→Electric Company Car BIK in Ireland: What Changes in 2027
From 1 January 2027 the reduction applied to the Original Market Value (OMV) of a battery electric company car in Ireland falls from €30,000 to €15,000: €5,000 of reduction for categories A1 to D plus €10,000 of EV relief. It drops to €2,500 in 2028 and disappears in 2029. The tax policy summary of Budget 2027, announced on 6 October 2026, lists no benefit-in-kind measure, so this scheduled taper stands. The category A1 rates stay at 15%, 12%, 9% and 6% of OMV depending on business kilometres, so a €55,000 Tesla driven 23,000 business km has a cash equivalent of €6,000 in 2027, up from €3,750 in 2026.
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