Which is cheaper: leasing or a loan for a company car?

It depends on what you compare. For a combustion-engine passenger car worth PLN 150,000 net, a 10% down payment, 48 instalments and a 10% buyout, an operating lease has a net instalment of PLN 3,029.55 and a loan PLN 3,359.48 - leasing wins by PLN 329.93 a month. But the real cost after the tax shield and taking non-deductible VAT into account is PLN 173,106.66 for leasing and PLN 169,516.61 for the loan, so the loan is cheaper by PLN 3,590.05. Leasing wins on cash flow, the loan on total cost.

Why is a leasing instalment lower than a loan instalment?

Because with leasing you do not repay the whole value of the asset in instalments - the buyout value is left at the end, in our example PLN 15,000. In the instalments you only finance the difference between the car's value and the buyout, while interest is charged on the whole amount. So a lower instalment does not mean a lower cost, only a deferred payment that you need to have at the end of the agreement.

How much VAT can you deduct on a company passenger car?

For a passenger car used for mixed purposes, i.e. also privately, you usually deduct 50% of the VAT. The full 100% requires the car to be used exclusively for the business, a mileage log to be kept and the vehicle to be registered with the tax office. With a loan you pay VAT on the full value in one go at purchase - in our example PLN 34,500 - while with an operating lease it is spread across the instalments.

Business

Leasing or a loan for a company car?

Q: How does the cost limit for passenger cars work from 2026?

From 1 January 2026 the limit depends on CO2 emissions: PLN 100,000 for cars emitting 50 g/km or more (petrol, diesel, regular hybrids), PLN 150,000 for cars below 50 g/km (plug-in hybrids) and PLN 225,000 for electric and hydrogen cars. The limit is compared with the car's value plus non-deductible VAT and only cuts the repayment of the car's value - interest is fully deductible. A combustion car worth PLN 150,000 net with 50% of the VAT deducted has a value of PLN 167,250, so about 60% of the capital part of the instalments is a tax-deductible cost.

Leasing has a lower instalment - by PLN 329.93 a month. And a higher real cost - by PLN 3,590.05. Both numbers are true at the same time, because they answer two different questions. We show which one is your question.

12 min read · 9 September 2026, updated 11 October 2026 (2026 cost limits) · Piotr Litwa, KredytPartner

Three differences everything follows from

Leasing and a loan finance the same car, but they do it differently in three places. Remember these three and you can work out the rest of the tables yourself:

Ownership. Under an operating lease the car belongs to the leasing company - you use it and buy it out at the end. With a loan you are the owner from day one, and the bank holds security.
What counts as a cost. Under an operating lease the down payment and the full instalments are tax-deductible costs. With a loan the costs are only the interest plus depreciation of the car spread over time - the capital part of the instalment is not a cost, because it is the purchase of an asset.
When you pay VAT. With a loan you pay VAT on the full value in one go, on the day of purchase. Under an operating lease VAT is added bit by bit, with each instalment.

Example: a combustion-engine passenger car worth PLN 150,000 net

Parameters: net value PLN 150,000, down payment 10% (PLN 15,000), 48 instalments, buyout value 10% (PLN 15,000), leasing interest rate 8.00%, loan 9.00%. A business paying flat-rate PIT (Polish income tax) at 19%, 50% of the VAT deducted - i.e. the car is also used privately. The cost limit for a combustion car from 2026: PLN 100,000.

	Operating lease	Loan
Net instalment	PLN 3,029.55	PLN 3,359.48
Gross instalment (with VAT)	PLN 3,726.35	-
VAT paid upfront	PLN 0	PLN 34,500.00
Buyout at the end	PLN 15,000.00	PLN 0
Interest / finance charge	PLN 25,418.43	PLN 26,255.07
Tax-deductible costs	PLN 118,341.55	PLN 126,255.07
Tax shield (19%)	PLN 22,484.89	PLN 23,988.46
Non-deductible VAT (real cost)	PLN 20,173.12	PLN 17,250.00
Total real cost	PLN 173,106.66	PLN 169,516.61

Two answers to two different questions

"How much a month?" - leasing wins: the net instalment is lower by PLN 329.93, and you do not need PLN 34,500 for VAT at the start.

"How much in total?" - the loan wins: the real cost is lower by PLN 3,590.05, despite the higher interest rate and the higher instalment.

If your constraint is cash and cash flow - take the lease. If you have capital and you are counting the total cost - the loan. It is not a question of the "better product", but of what you are short of.

Why the leasing instalment is lower

Not because of a better interest rate - in our example leasing is at 8%, the loan at 9%, but the difference in instalment (PLN 329.93) is much bigger than one percentage point would explain. The reason lies in the structure:

instalment = [ P - W / (1 + i)ⁿ ] × i / [ 1 - (1 + i)^-n ]

P - the amount to be financed (value minus the down payment),
W - the buyout value, i - the monthly rate, n - the number of instalments.
The key element is - W / (1 + i)ⁿ: the buyout, discounted to today, reduces the amount spread across the instalments. Interest, on the other hand, runs on the whole amount.

In plain English: in the instalments you repay only part of the car's value. The rest - PLN 15,000 - waits until the end of the agreement. The instalment is lower by exactly as much as you have deferred the payment. That is not a saving, it is a schedule.

The balloon payment: where people trip up

Leasing offers with a low instalment almost always have a high buyout value - sometimes 30-40% of the value. The instalment looks great in the advert, and after 48 months you have to find tens of thousands of zloty, or refinance the buyout, or hand the car back and be left without one after four years of paying. Always check the instalment and the buyout together, never separately.

The PLN 100,000 limit: from 2026 it applies to almost every car

Only the part of the repayment of a passenger car's value that fits within the limit can be counted as a tax-deductible cost (with leasing: the capital part of the instalments; when buying: depreciation). From 1 January 2026 the limit depends on CO2 emissions:

PLN 100,000 - emissions of 50 g/km or more: petrol, diesel, regular hybrids.
PLN 150,000 - emissions below 50 g/km, in practice plug-in hybrids.
PLN 225,000 - electric and hydrogen cars.

The limit is compared with the car's value plus non-deductible VAT. So our PLN 150,000 net car with 50% of the VAT deducted has a value of PLN 167,250. For a combustion car with that deduction, it works out as follows:

A car worth PLN 89,000 net - 100% of the capital part of the instalments is a cost.
A car worth PLN 100,000 net - about 90%.
A car worth PLN 150,000 net - about 60%.
A car worth PLN 300,000 net - about 30%.

The interest part of the instalments and loan interest are fully deductible - the limit does not apply to them. In our example the limit takes PLN 11,499.75 off the leasing tax shield: without it the shield would be PLN 33,984.64, with it PLN 22,484.89. The same car as a plug-in hybrid (PLN 150,000 limit) would give a PLN 31,034.89 tax shield, and as an electric car it would fit within the limit entirely.

Above the limit, every extra zloty of value costs you a full zloty - not 81 groszy, as within the limit. This is the main reason why "leasing always pays off" is not a true statement. We describe the details, including what happens to agreements signed before 2026, in the guide on the PLN 100,000 limit.

VAT: a cash flow, not a cost (unless you cannot deduct it)

VAT in itself is not a cost - you deduct it in your VAT return. The only real cost is the non-deductible part. And here what decides is how you use the car:

Mixed use (also private) - you deduct 50% of the VAT. Simpler, no mileage log. The other half stays with the tax office, and that is your real cost: PLN 20,173.12 with leasing, PLN 17,250.00 with the loan.
Business use only - you deduct 100% of the VAT, but this requires keeping a mileage log, registering the vehicle with the tax office and genuinely excluding private use. With a PLN 150,000 car PLN 34,500 is at stake, so the calculation can make the paperwork worth it.

Note the timing: with a loan, PLN 34,500 of VAT leaves the business account on the day of purchase, and only comes back once the return has been settled. For a business with tight cash flow this is often the deciding argument - regardless of the loan's total cost coming out lower.

Operating or finance lease

The numbers above concern an operating lease, which is the default choice for most businesses. The finance variant behaves more like a loan:

	Operating	Finance
Deductible costs	down payment + full instalments	interest + depreciation
VAT	spread across the instalments	in one go, upfront, on the full value
Fixed asset on the company's books	no	yes, you depreciate it
Typical use	cars, equipment replaced every few years	machinery with a long useful life

With a finance lease you pay VAT on the full value - in our example PLN 34,500 - on the day you take delivery, just as with a loan. The biggest advantage of an operating lease, i.e. no large outlay at the start, then disappears.

What no table shows

The numbers above are complete for the financing itself. Before you decide, add four items the calculator does not know about, because they depend on your agreement:

Insurance. The leasing company usually imposes its own policy or charges a fee for an outside policy. The difference over a four-year agreement can run to several thousand zloty - and you do not see it in the instalment.
Mileage limit and return condition. This applies especially to agreements with a high buyout and to rental. Exceeding the limit means a per-kilometre charge, and "excessive wear and tear" may be assessed after the return, when you no longer have room to negotiate.
Ending the agreement early. With a loan you have the right to repay early. With leasing, getting out before the end is usually expensive or requires an assignment - check that clause before you sign.
Your real time horizon. If the car is to stay in the business for 8-10 years, the loan's advantage grows: you are the owner, there is no buyout, no return conditions. If you replace your car every 3-4 years, leasing wins on convenience.

Do the maths yourself

Calculator

Leasing calculator

Enter the net value, the down payment, the term and the buyout value, choose an operating or finance lease, and set the tax rate and the level of VAT deduction. The calculator will show the net and gross instalment, the tax shield, the real cost and a comparison with a loan - including the limit for passenger cars. Already have specific offers? Enter them into the leasing offer comparison.

Open the leasing calculator

Read also

APR or interest rate - why with financing offers you need to compare the total cost, not the instalment.
How to read a leasing offer - total payments, the buyout and the interest rate nobody tells you.
Buying out a leased car - low or high, through the business or privately.
Fixed or declining instalments - how the shape of the schedule changes the total interest cost.
Debt consolidation: when it makes sense - the same principle: a lower instalment almost always means longer and more expensive.

All the numbers in this article were calculated with the engine that powers our calculators (js/finance.js). The values, rates and tax assumptions (19% tax, 23% VAT, 50% deduction, a PLN 100,000 cost limit for a combustion car) are a worked example, not an offer or a tax interpretation. The model is simplified - among other things, it ignores the initial fee being spread over time, the details of depreciation, and the fact that the buyout price after the lease ends also becomes a tax-deductible cost. This text is educational and does not constitute tax or legal advice or an offer within the meaning of Art. 66 §1 of the Polish Civil Code. Before deciding, check the tax treatment with your accountant or tax adviser, because it depends on your form of taxation and how the vehicle is used.