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Income tax assistance: Bike leasing can reduce your pension - better than a salary bonus
More and more companies are offering their employees the opportunity to lease an e-bike or other bicycle through salary conversion. But beware: this can reduce the amount of the future pension, as a specific calculation example shows. Why this is the case and what alternative exists without later pension losses is explained by the Income Tax Assistance Association United Income Tax Assistance e. V. (VLH).
Leasing rate is deducted in whole or in part from the gross salary
The option to lease a bicycle through salary conversion via the employer is widespread: According to a Statista survey commissioned by "Lease a Bike" in 2024, 37 percent of companies in Germany offer their employees such bike leasing. Another 27 percent are planning to offer it. This predominantly involves e-bikes, but it can also be a traditional bicycle.
Possible scenario: An employee selects a bicycle from a specialist retailer. The employer becomes the lessee, and the two agree on a salary conversion. This means the cash salary is converted into a non-cash benefit. In other words, the employee forgoes part of their salary, equal to the leasing rate, minus any employer subsidy. The monthly leasing rate is directly deducted from their gross salary - before taxes and social contributions are due. Important: Private use of the bike must be taxed as a monetary benefit.
Smaller pension due to lower social contributions
Paying the leasing rate for a bicycle through salary conversion is a smart solution and can initially bring financial benefits to employees. However, there is a catch. Since the leasing rate is deducted before taxes and social contributions, it lowers the gross salary from which contributions to the statutory pension insurance are calculated. A lower gross salary means lower contributions to the pension fund - and that in turn leads to a lower pension entitlement later on.
Many bike leasing providers emphasize that later pension losses are at least offset by the savings on bike leasing through salary conversion. However, this cannot be said categorically. And: If the leasing rate lowers the gross salary, it naturally also reduces contributions to the pension fund, and this also impacts social benefits such as short-time work benefits, sickness benefits, and unemployment benefits. For their amount is calculated as a percentage of the gross income.
The more expensive the bike, the less flows into the pension fund
Assume a childless employee with tax class I and a monthly gross salary of 3,500 euros opts for an e-bike lease, and their gross salary is reduced by around 100 euros per month for the leasing rate as part of a salary conversion. As a result, they pay around 9 euros less into the statutory pension insurance every month. Over a leasing period of 36 months, this amounts to 324 euros. According to the German Pension Insurance, this reduces the future pension by around three euros per month.
The more expensive the bicycle or e-bike and the lower the employer's subsidy, the more the gross salary is reduced, and the lower the contributions to the pension insurance are. For example, if the leasing rate were 150 euros per month through salary conversion, the contributions to the pension fund would decrease by almost 14 euros per month - over 36 months, that would be a little more than 500 euros. And those who lease a bicycle again through salary conversion after the three-year term will have to accept further reductions in their future pension amount.
Alternative: Bicycle as a salary extra
Another possibility: The employer buys or leases an e-bike or a classic bicycle at their own expense and provides it to the employee in addition to the salary already owed. In other words, as a salary extra. In this case, the gross salary remains unchanged - and thus there are no disadvantages in terms of the future statutory pension and other social benefits.
Another advantage of the salary extra: Employees do not have to tax the bike as a non-cash benefit in such cases. At least as long as it is a bike without an electric motor or an e-bike with a motor of up to 250 watts, limited to a speed of no more than 25 kilometers per hour.
Translated automatically from German.
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