Journalist/columnist X, employed by a publisher, argued in court that all the kilometres he drove in the private car provided to him by the publisher were business-related. After all, every drive could lead to a column or article. As a result, X drove less than 500 private kilometres with the car, which meant that no addition to his salary had to be made for the car.
However, the court deduced from a 1997 Supreme Court ruling that the concept of “business use” should be interpreted narrowly. According to the court, a drive that could potentially provide material for a column or article should still be regarded as a private drive. This is only different if X makes it plausible that the ride was made with the preconceived purpose of writing a column or article.
(North Holland District Court, 14-7-2014, no. 13/5160)