Vehicle tax for this car comes to:
0,00 €Three figures settle what a car pays: engine size, the CO₂ value in the papers and the date it was first registered. All three are printed on the registration certificate Part I, and the section below says which field to look in.
Three figures decide what a car costs in German vehicle tax: engine displacement, the CO₂ value in the papers, and the day the car was first registered anywhere in the world. That last date is the important one, because it decides which of three sets of rules the customs administration applies to your car. A 2005 diesel and a 2022 diesel with the same engine are taxed by entirely different methods.
Date of first registration in field B, engine displacement in field P.1, fuel in field P.3, and either the CO₂ value in field V.7 or the emission key number in field 14.1 – all on your registration certificate Part I (Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I). Nothing else is needed.
Which rules apply to your car
| First registered | How the tax is worked out |
|---|---|
| Up to 30 June 2009 | Engine size and emission standard. No CO₂ at all. |
| 1 July 2009 to 31 December 2020 | Engine size, plus a flat €2.00 for every gram of CO₂ above an allowance |
| From 1 January 2021 | Engine size, plus CO₂ in six bands that get steadily more expensive |
Cars first registered from 2021 onwards
The engine part is simple: €2.00 per 100 cc for a petrol engine, €9.50 per 100 cc for a diesel, and every started 100 cc counts in full. An engine of 1,498 cc is billed as fifteen units, not as fourteen and a bit.
On top comes the CO₂ part. The first 95 g/km are free. Everything above is cut into six bands, and each band has its own price per gram:
| Band | CO₂ under the WLTP test | Per gram in that band |
|---|---|---|
| First | above 95 up to 115 g/km | €2.00 |
| Second | above 115 up to 135 g/km | €2.20 |
| Third | above 135 up to 155 g/km | €2.50 |
| Fourth | above 155 up to 175 g/km | €2.90 |
| Fifth | above 175 up to 195 g/km | €3.40 |
| Sixth | above 195 g/km | €4.00 |
Worked through for a petrol car of 1,395 cc emitting 128 g/km, first registered in 2022: the engine gives fourteen units at €2.00, which is €28.00. The CO₂ part fills the first band completely, twenty grams at €2.00, or €40.00, and reaches thirteen grams into the second band at €2.20, another €28.60. Together that is €96.60 a year, collected as €96.
The same arithmetic for a diesel of 1,968 cc at 155 g/km, first registered in 2023: twenty units at €9.50 make €190.00, and the CO₂ part fills three whole bands, €40.00 plus €44.00 plus €50.00. The bill is €324.00, collected as €324.
What a car typically pays
Every figure below is calculated from the rates above. Round numbers are used on purpose, so you can find the line closest to your own car.
| Engine | Fuel | CO₂ | First registered | Charged per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 cc | Petrol | 121 g/km | 2022 | €73 |
| 1,500 cc | Petrol | 132 g/km | 2023 | €107 |
| 2,000 cc | Petrol | 155 g/km | 2024 | €174 |
| 3,000 cc | Petrol | 215 g/km | 2022 | €400 |
| 1,968 cc | Diesel | 131 g/km | 2022 | €265 |
| 1,993 cc | Diesel | 165 g/km | 2023 | €353 |
| 1,000 cc | Petrol | 110 g/km | 2018 | €50 |
| 1,968 cc | Diesel | 118 g/km | 2016 | €236 |
A diesel pays far more than a petrol car of the same size because of the engine part, where the rate is almost five times higher. Diesel fuel carries less energy tax at the pump, and the vehicle tax is where the difference is taken back. Whether a diesel is cheaper overall depends on how far you drive, not on the tax table.
Cars first registered between July 2009 and December 2020
The engine part is the same, €2.00 or €9.50 per started 100 cc. The CO₂ part is a flat €2.00 for every gram above an allowance, and the allowance shrank twice:
| First registered | CO₂ free of charge |
|---|---|
| Up to 31 December 2011 | 120 g/km |
| 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2013 | 110 g/km |
| From 1 January 2014 | 95 g/km |
Cars first registered up to June 2009
Here CO₂ plays no part at all. What counts is the engine size together with the emission standard the car meets, priced per started 100 cc:
| Emission standard | Petrol | Diesel |
|---|---|---|
| Euro 3 and better | €6.75 | €15.44 |
| Euro 2 | €7.36 | €16.05 |
| Euro 1 | €15.13 | €27.35 |
| Euro 0, previously allowed to drive during ozone alerts | €21.07 | €33.29 |
| Euro 0, all others | €25.36 | €37.58 |
A 1,595 cc petrol car meeting Euro 4 therefore pays sixteen units at €6.75, which is €108. A 1,896 cc diesel of the same standard pays nineteen units at €15.44, or €293.36, collected as €293.
If you do not know the standard, read the last two digits of the emission key number, printed in field 14.1 of the registration certificate. The customs administration matches them like this:
| Key number ends in | Emission standard |
|---|---|
| 30 to 33, 36 to 48, 53 to 70, 72 to 75, A0 to Y0, ZA to ZF, ZY, ZZ | Euro 3 and better |
| 25, 26, 27, 35, 49, 50, 51, 52, 71 | Euro 2 |
| 01, 02, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, 28, 29, 34, 77 | Euro 1 |
| 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 92 | Euro 0, ozone exemption |
| 00, 03 to 10, 15, 88 | Euro 0, all others |
Hybrids, company cars and two special cases
A hybrid is taxed like any other petrol or diesel car, by engine size and CO₂. That includes plug-in hybrids and cars with a range extender. Only a vehicle driven purely by battery or fuel cell counts as an electric vehicle with its own rules.
A company car raises a different tax. What people usually mean by company car tax in Germany is the private use of an employer’s car, which is added to your salary and taxed as income. That is a matter for your employer and the tax office. The vehicle tax on this page is owed by whoever the car is registered to, and is the same whether the car is private or a company one.
Two cases the calculator on this page does not cover. A rotary engine in a car first registered up to 30 June 2009 is taxed by weight instead of displacement. And for cars first registered between 5 November 2008 and 30 June 2009, the customs office works out both the old and the new method and charges the cheaper one. If your car falls into either group, treat the result here as an upper estimate and ask your main customs office.
Seasonal plates
With a seasonal plate the car may only be used in the months printed on it, between two and eleven whole months, and you pay one three-hundred-and-sixty-fifth of the annual tax for each day in that period. Outside the period the car must stay off public roads, including parked at the kerb.
Frequently asked questions
The date of first registration decides between three methods. From 1 January 2021: €2.00 per started 100 cc for petrol or €9.50 for diesel, plus €2.00 to €4.00 for every gram of CO₂ above 95 g/km in six rising bands. From July 2009 to December 2020: the same engine rates plus a flat €2.00 per gram above an allowance of 120, 110 or 95 g/km. Up to June 2009: engine size times a rate between €6.75 and €37.58 per 100 cc, set by the emission standard.
Because of the engine part of the calculation. A diesel is charged €9.50 for every started 100 cc where a petrol car pays €2.00, and that gap is almost five to one. The CO₂ part is the same for both. The reasoning behind it is that diesel fuel carries less energy tax at the pump, so part of the difference is taken back through the vehicle tax.
Both are printed on the registration certificate Part I. Engine displacement is field P.1, the CO₂ figure is field V.7, and the fuel is field P.3. Cars first registered before mid-2009 have no CO₂ entry, and for those you need the emission standard instead: take the last two digits of the emission key number in field 14.1.
No. Only a vehicle driven exclusively by a battery or a fuel cell counts as an electric vehicle in German tax law. Hybrids, plug-in hybrids and cars with a range extender are taxed exactly like any other petrol or diesel car, by engine size and CO₂. A plug-in hybrid with a low CO₂ figure will nonetheless pay less than a comparable conventional car, because the CO₂ part of the calculation is smaller.
No, and the two are often confused. What people usually call company car tax in Germany is the private use of an employer’s vehicle, which is added to your pay and taxed as income by the tax office. The tax on this page is owed by whoever the vehicle is registered to, and it is the same amount whether the car is privately or commercially held.
Those two key numbers, in fields 2.1 and 2.2, identify the manufacturer and the model type. They say nothing about your individual vehicle. A calculator that asks for them simply looks up an engine size and a CO₂ figure that are already printed in your own papers, so reading fields P.1 and V.7 is quicker and more reliable.
Updated 11 September 2026. Rates and rules from Section 9 (1) no. 2, Section 11 and Section 18 of the Kraftfahrzeugsteuergesetz and from the customs administration pages on Steuerhoehe, both in German. The key number table follows the customs list matching emission key numbers to Euro standards. All amounts are our own calculations and do not replace the assessment of your main customs office.