An employee’s private vehicle — maximum rates per kilometre

The “Vehicle allowances” section of podatki.gov.pl — Rates and limits lists maximum rates per kilometre for private vehicles used on employees’ local journeys. The source identifies these rates as applicable from 17 January 2023.

What are the maximum rates?

For employees’ local journeys, the maximum rates per kilometre are:

• Passenger car with an engine capacity of up to 900 cm³ — PLN 0.89.
• Passenger car with an engine capacity above 900 cm³ — PLN 1.15.
• Motorcycle — PLN 0.69.
• Moped — PLN 0.42.

These rates limit tax-deductible costs incurred by taxpayers carrying on business activities on behalf of their employees. This is the scope specified by the official source.

A cost limit, not a determination of reimbursement due

In this guide, the rates should be read within the scope described above: they concern costs incurred by a business on behalf of its employees. Do not treat the list of maximum rates alone as establishing that an employee is automatically entitled to reimbursement at those rates. This article does not determine entitlement to reimbursement or the amount due to a particular person.

Do not use this list as instructions for accounting for the private car of a sole trader. Accounting for a business owner’s car and the owner’s foreign business travel remain outside the scope of this guide.

What about rates for business travel?

Podatki.gov.pl states that the same rates per kilometre apply to reimbursement of the costs of using a vehicle on a business trip. This is information about the rates, not a determination of entitlement to reimbursement. We remain within the source’s scope of costs incurred by a business on behalf of its employees; we do not discuss accounting for a business owner’s travel.

Organising information voluntarily

As an organisational aid, we suggest identifying the following before using the list:

• who uses the vehicle — an employee or the business owner;
• what type of journey is being considered — a local journey or a business trip;
• the type of vehicle;
• the passenger car’s engine capacity.

This is solely an optional organisational recommendation, not a list of legal obligations or required documents. The guide is limited to the rates and their scope as stated in the source; it does not cover calculating reimbursement or assessing an individual settlement.