Your company has charging points in its car park. Your staff charge their cars there during office hours. In the evening and at weekends, nobody uses them. You would like to open them to drivers in the neighbourhood. And your accountant's first question comes straight away: "What about VAT?"

PotatoCharge now welcomes businesses. Here is what Belgian VAT means when you make your chargers available, and what the platform does for you.

What VAT means for your company

A private individual who shares their charger does not charge VAT. Your company does: when a driver charges at your premises, you are selling them electricity. Under EU VAT rules, this is a supply of goods, taxed in the country where the charger is located. For a charger in Belgium, that means Belgian VAT at 21 %, whether the driver is a private individual or a business.

On your side, you already recover the VAT on the electricity you buy. The VAT you charge the driver simply goes into your usual VAT return, like any other sale.

One point to check with your accountant before you start: if part of your company's activity is VAT-exempt, your deduction on the electricity may be limited. In that case, the profitability calculation changes.

What PotatoCharge does for you

The platform handles booking, access to the charger, metering of each session, payment collection and the payout of your earnings. For a business, it also takes care of what VAT requires:

  1. Your earnings paid into the company's account, not a personal one, with the identity checks that apply to businesses.
  2. Your VAT number on your host profile, checked against the EU register (VIES). You enter it once, and the platform applies VAT to every session.
  3. A proper receipt for every driver, showing your price excluding VAT, the VAT and the total separately, with the platform's service fee on its own line.
  4. An invoice for your business customers. A business driver gets an invoice in their company's name and recovers the VAT. Between Belgian businesses, it follows the electronic format that has been mandatory since 1 January 2026. For these drivers, it is a good reason to come back and charge with you.

Setting your price: VAT included

You set the price per kilowatt-hour yourself, VAT included. The driver sees that price, and the platform extracts the VAT on every receipt. If you charge €0.40 per kilowatt-hour, €0.331 excluding VAT is yours and €0.069 of VAT goes into your VAT return. The platform's service fee is added on top of that price and shown before the driver books.

To choose that price, start from what electricity costs you excluding VAT, add the margin you are aiming for, then multiply by 1.21.

A driver who comes to charge at your premises in the evening often has no charger at home. They do not compare your price with their home tariff, but with rapid charging at the supermarket or on the motorway, often more than €0.50 per kilowatt-hour, VAT included. You have room to offer a fair price.

Before you open your chargers

  • Identify the times when your chargers are not in use: for example from 6 p.m. to 7.30 a.m. on weekdays and all weekend.
  • Ask your accountant whether all of the company's activity is subject to VAT.
  • Work out your electricity cost excluding VAT, so you can set a VAT-inclusive price that covers your costs.
  • Check whether your chargers are connected. It is not required, but a connected charger can run in automatic mode: it unlocks, meters and collects payment on its own, without involving your teams. It is all explained in self-service charging in the evening.

Frequently asked questions

Do my staff keep priority on the chargers?

Yes. You choose the times open to the public, and they end before your teams arrive. A booking cannot overrun into your internal working hours.

Who files the VAT return?

You do, as for all your sales. The platform gives you the breakdown of each session (excluding VAT, VAT, total) for your accounts.

Are your chargers idle after 6 p.m.?

Open them to drivers in the neighbourhood, without working out VAT session by session. You set your hours and your price, PotatoCharge takes care of the rest.

Open my company's chargers or ask the PotatoCharge team a question.