Deduct a Bike or E-Bike in Germany 2026: the complete guide

A good e-bike easily costs 3,000 euros or more — and that is exactly what makes it one of the most attractive tax-saving moves for the self-employed in Germany. If you use the bike for your business, you can depreciate the purchase, reclaim the VAT, and in most cases keep your private use completely tax-free.

This applies to classic bicycles just as much as to pedelecs, and it covers freelancers, sole traders, and UG/GmbH directors. The legislator deliberately promotes the company bike — the most important benefit runs until the end of 2030.

Here are the rules for booking a bike or e-bike cleanly into your EÜR or annual accounts in 2026 — from the 7-year depreciation and input VAT to the 0-euro rule for private use.

When is the bike deductible at all?

For the bike to become a business expense, it has to be used for the business — for trips to clients, to a coworking space, or to the post office. What matters is the share of business use:

• At least 10% business use: the bike can go into business assets (elective business assets), making depreciation, input VAT, and running costs deductible.
• Over 50% business use: it belongs to mandatory business assets.
• Under 10%: no business deduction — the bike stays private.

Unlike with a car, you don't have to prove a fixed percentage. A plausible, informal estimate of business use is usually enough for the tax office.

Bike, pedelec or S-pedelec — the decisive difference

Tax law splits these into two worlds:

• Bicycle and pedelec (motor support only up to 25 km/h, no insurance plate, no licence): treated as a bicycle. This is where the favourable 0-euro rule for private use applies.
• S-pedelec (pedal assist up to 45 km/h, insurance plate required): treated as a motor vehicle. The same rules as for an e-car apply — private use is taxed via the 1% rule (reduced to 0.25% or 0.5% for electric vehicles) or a logbook.

For the vast majority of the self-employed, the regular pedelec is clearly the better choice for tax.

Purchase: low-value asset, 7-year depreciation, or special write-off

How you claim the cost depends on the price:

• Up to 800 euros net (952 euros gross): the bike is a low-value asset (GWG) under §6(2) EStG and fully deductible in the year of purchase.
• Over 800 euros net: depreciation over the standard useful life of 7 years (straight-line, per the official depreciation table). A 3,000-euro-net e-bike therefore yields around 429 euros per year as a business expense.

Unlike computers, there is no shortened one-year useful life — bikes stay at 7 years. More on the threshold in our guide to the low-value asset (GWG) limit and immediate write-off.

If you want to depreciate faster, use the special depreciation under §7g EStG: if your profit is below 200,000 euros, you can write off an additional 20% in the year of purchase. Combined with an investment deduction (IAB) formed in advance, a large part of the purchase can be pulled forward.

Input VAT: reclaim the 19%

If you are on standard VAT (i.e. not a small business), you reclaim the VAT shown on the invoice via your VAT return. On an e-bike costing 3,570 euros gross, that's 570 euros of input VAT — immediately in the filing period of the purchase, regardless of the multi-year depreciation.

This requires a proper invoice with all mandatory details under §14 UStG. Small businesses (Kleinunternehmer) deduct the gross amount as a business expense but cannot reclaim input VAT.

Private use: the 0-euro rule for pedelecs

This is the clever part: if you also use your business bike or pedelec privately, you do not have to tax a private withdrawal. Under §6(1) no. 4 sentence 6 EStG, the private use value is set at 0 euros — the usual 1% taxation drops away entirely.

The conditions:

• The bike was acquired after 31 December 2018.
• It is not an S-pedelec (i.e. not a motor vehicle).

This rule is time-limited — it applies to purchases up to 31 December 2030. So you depreciate in full, reclaim the VAT, and ride privately for free. If you also use the bike for your commute, look at the commuter allowance for the self-employed.

Accessories, running costs & leasing

Almost everything around the bike is deductible:

• Accessories: lock, helmet, trailer, panniers, a second battery — usually under 800 euros net and therefore immediately deductible as a low-value asset.
• Running costs: repairs, servicing, insurance, electricity for charging — fully deductible as a business expense in the year paid.
• Leasing: instead of buying, you can get the bike via company-bike leasing. The lease instalments are then running business expenses. Whether buying or leasing is cheaper depends on the term, residual value, and your cash flow — similar to the split for phone costs.

Receipt & booking, GoBD-compliant

For the tax office to play along, you need the original invoice with all mandatory details, a correct booking in the asset register (acquisition date, useful life, price), and GoBD-compliant, tamper-proof storage.

Norman automatically recognises at purchase whether the low-value-asset rule or 7-year depreciation applies, adds the bike to the asset register, spreads the depreciation over the years, and reclaims the input VAT in your VAT return. For GmbHs it flows straight into the annual accounts — see taxes for a GmbH and taxes for the self-employed.

Conclusion

Deducting a bike or e-bike in 2026 pays off like few other purchases: up to 800 euros net it's an immediate low-value asset, above that it's written off over 7 years, plus full input VAT recovery and — for pedelecs — tax-free private use until 2030. Watch the line to the S-pedelec, document business use plausibly, and book it cleanly into the asset register. Then the company bike isn't just healthy — it's one of the best tax-saving moves the German tax system currently offers.