Leasing a luxury car in Belgium: what it really costs

Two formulas, two accounting logics

In Belgium, two formulas dominate the financing of a high-end company car, and they are not alike.

Financial renting, often called LOA, is a rental with a purchase option of at least 16% at the end of the contract. In accounting terms, your company is treated as the economic owner of the vehicle: it appears as an asset on the balance sheet and is depreciated.

Operational leasing, or long-term rental, carries no compulsory purchase option. The vehicle remains the lessor's property, does not appear on your balance sheet, and you simply book the rentals as expenses. No debt is recorded: your borrowing capacity stays intact, which matters when a bank assesses your file.

What the rental actually contains

In operational leasing, the monthly rental is presented as an all-in package: use of the vehicle, insurance, servicing, repairs, assistance. That is what makes the comparison with an outright purchase misleading — you are not comparing two prices, you are comparing a price and a scope of services.

Two parameters drive the amount: the contract duration and the contractual annual mileage. Exceeding them is invoiced. Under-using them is generally not refunded.

What the 2026 reform changes in the calculation

Since 1 January 2026, the deductibility of a combustion or hybrid company car is 0%, whatever the financing formula. A renting payment on a diesel saloon ordered in 2026 no longer passes as a professional expense. It is the signature date of the leasing contract that determines the regime, not the delivery date.

An electric car ordered in 2026 stays 100% deductible, and that rate is locked for the whole ownership period. From 1 January 2027, it drops to 95% for new orders.

Regional taxes, which stay on your plate

The rental does not make regional taxation disappear. In Wallonia, the annual road tax follows a fiscal-horsepower scale: for the period from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, it runs from €107.18 for 4 fiscal HP and below to €373.16 for 9 fiscal HP, and keeps climbing beyond that. A fully electric car pays a reduced annual flat rate of €102.96 for the 2025-2026 tax year.

In Brussels, the gap between powertrains is even sharper on large saloons: the Mercedes-Benz Classe S is recorded at €931.66 a year in diesel and €2,374.94 in petrol, against €92.93 for a Volvo EX90 or a Porsche Taycan.

Since 1 July 2025, the Walloon registration tax is no longer calculated on fiscal horsepower: it combines power in kW, age, CO2 emissions, maximum authorised mass and energy type, with a result bounded between €50 and €9,000.

What to look at before signing

Four lines, in this order: the signature date (it fixes the tax regime for the whole term), the contractual mileage, the exact scope of included services, and the return or purchase conditions at the end of the contract.

The luxury car ranking gives the list-price ranges and annual taxes of the eight models tracked, which lets you check whether a quoted rental stands up.

Sources

• SPW Finances, road tax scales, period 01/07/2026 – 30/06/2027, consulted 2 August 2026.
• SPW Finances, taxation of electric vehicles in Wallonia, consulted 2 August 2026.
• Moniteur Automobile, “Déductibilité fiscale : règles en 2026”, published 1 April 2026.
• Moniteur Automobile, prices and annual taxes per model, recorded 1 August 2026, re-checked 2 August 2026.