The Clean Car Discount scheme

The Clean Car Discount scheme applied rebates or fees to certain eligible vehicles that were registered up to or on 31 December 2023.

From 1 July 2021 until 31 March 2022, a rebate was paid (on application) to the first registered person of an eligible vehicle (or to a lessor where the first registered person of the vehicle is a lessee).

From 1 April 2022 until 31 December 2023 a Clean Car Discount was based on a vehicle's CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions. Vehicles with zero or low emissions qualified for a rebate and those with high emissions incurred a fee.

For more details on the Clean Car Discount that ended on 31 December 2023, see the Waka Kotahi website.

Clean Car Discount ended on 31 December 2023 (www.nzta.govt.nz)

If you are in business, you need to be aware of the tax consequences if you:

• received a rebate or paid a fee under the Clean Car Discount scheme
• leased a vehicle that was eligible under the Clean Car Discount scheme.

The outcome varied, depending on what you used the vehicle for.

Getting the rebate

You can no longer get the rebate. Applications submitted after 31 December 2023 will not be accepted.

If you got a rebate under the Clean Car Discount scheme, you did not have to pay income tax on the rebate. One of the following would apply, the rebate would be:

• excluded income under the rules relating to government grants (if you are claiming depreciation deductions on the motor vehicle)
• a capital receipt.

Paying the fee

A fee payable under the Clean Car Discount scheme was a capital expense.  Because it was a capital expense, you do not get a deduction for the fee.

Claiming depreciation

If you use the vehicle in your business or lease it to a lessee under an operating lease, 1 of the following will apply to the base cost of the motor vehicle, it will be:

• reduced by the amount of any rebate under the rules relating to government grants
• increased by the amount of any fee.

Under existing rules, if you lease the vehicle to a lessee under a finance lease, you will not be able to claim depreciation deductions. The base cost of the motor vehicle for the lessee will be determined under the financial arrangements rules in the usual way.

Fringe benefit tax (FBT)

If you make the vehicle available to an employee for their private use, you must pay FBT based on the cost of the car to you (or to the owner if you lease the car).

The cost will be either:

• reduced by the amount of any rebate
• increased by the amount of any fee.

Goods and services tax (GST)

If you were GST registered and got a rebate under the Clean Car Discount scheme for a vehicle you used in your taxable activity, the rebate was treated as consideration for a deemed supply by you under the rules relating to government grants. This means you must return the GST in your next GST return.