Lohn vs. Dienstfahrrad

The company bike via salary sacrifice - often known under the JobRad brand - is seen as one of the most attractive employee benefits. The reason is a tax advantage: instead of buying the bike from your net salary, your employer leases it and deducts the lease rate from your gross salary (salary conversion). Because the rate is deducted before tax and social contributions, your levy burden falls - the bike costs you considerably less net than the list price.

You do have to tax the benefit in kind, but only very low: since 2020 the 0.25 percent rule applies to company bikes provided by the employer or via salary sacrifice. That means you tax only 0.25 percent of the recommended retail price (RRP) per month as a benefit in kind - a quarter of the rate that applied before. For a bike with a 3,000-euro RRP that is just 7.50 euros monthly benefit in kind, on which tax and social contributions are due.

The calculator compares three scenarios: the private purchase from net salary, salary sacrifice (you finance it via your gross salary) and the additionally employer-funded variant (the employer pays a subsidy or the full rate on top). You enter the bike price, the lease factor (typically around 3 % of the RRP per month), the lease term (usually 36 months), insurance costs and any employer subsidy.

It works out the monthly and total effect: how much less net you have in your account, what the bike costs you over the whole term, and how that compares against a plain private purchase. The calculator factors in the 0.25 percent taxation, the tax and social contributions saved through salary conversion, and the insurance that is often included in the lease.

Two footnotes matter, and the calculator does not hide them: at the end of the lease term there is usually a purchase offer at the residual value - this is tax-relevant and often taxed at a flat rate. And salary conversion lowers your gross salary subject to social insurance, which can have minimal effects on pension and other wage-replacement benefits. The calculator makes the numbers transparent so you do not just look at the nice net saving.

Everything runs in the browser; your salary data stays on your device. The tool is a decision aid, not tax or legal advice. Whether the company bike pays off for you depends on your tax rate, the specific lease contract and your employer - the calculator shows the direction, you check the contract in detail.