Yes it is different. But in this case it is both. The company pays that €0.21, which the tax office should normally see as an income for the employee. So the subsidy is in not taxing this income.
The public transit pass (which can be used privately) is not taxed at all.
Tl;dr for paragraph below: EV company cars that are driving privately get big tax benefits
Same goes for the car. Normally a lease car lease is quite expensive and if the employer pays for it, it is seen as an income for the employee IF the employee uses the car privately. This is taxed yearly as if you would have received 22% of the new value of the car per year. So a €100,000 car is taxed as if you’ve received €22,000 in extra income. Depending on what tax bracket you’re in you pay quite a bit of tax on that. Now for EV’s it depends on the year in which the car was registered. I have a car that cost €43,000 from 2020 which is taxed at 8%, so it is taxed only as if I made €3,440 more. This tax comes down to roughly €150 per month which is very roughly €250 less than I’d have paid for a gas car. So a subsidy in essence. This is why you see so many EVs in the Netherlands, though tax benefits are much lower these days.
Now for the part about paying for time rather than travel expenses. Yes, that’s indeed far less common unfortunately. But such measures do lessen the burden somewhat.
Commenting in your first remark first:
Yes it is different. But in this case it is both. The company pays that €0.21, which the tax office should normally see as an income for the employee. So the subsidy is in not taxing this income.
The public transit pass (which can be used privately) is not taxed at all.
Tl;dr for paragraph below: EV company cars that are driving privately get big tax benefits
Same goes for the car. Normally a lease car lease is quite expensive and if the employer pays for it, it is seen as an income for the employee IF the employee uses the car privately. This is taxed yearly as if you would have received 22% of the new value of the car per year. So a €100,000 car is taxed as if you’ve received €22,000 in extra income. Depending on what tax bracket you’re in you pay quite a bit of tax on that. Now for EV’s it depends on the year in which the car was registered. I have a car that cost €43,000 from 2020 which is taxed at 8%, so it is taxed only as if I made €3,440 more. This tax comes down to roughly €150 per month which is very roughly €250 less than I’d have paid for a gas car. So a subsidy in essence. This is why you see so many EVs in the Netherlands, though tax benefits are much lower these days.
Now for the part about paying for time rather than travel expenses. Yes, that’s indeed far less common unfortunately. But such measures do lessen the burden somewhat.