Can Your Company Buy You a Scooter? FBT Rules for Scooters, E-Bikes and E-Scooters

Your company can buy you a motor scooter or e-bike to ride to work FBT-free, but a stand-up e-scooter needs to stay at the office.

Yes, your company can buy a scooter for you to use for work. Whether fringe benefits tax (FBT) applies depends on two things: the type of scooter, and where it spends its nights.

It’s a question we’re hearing more often from business owners, especially in cities where a scooter beats sitting in traffic. The rules for scooters work quite differently from the rules for company cars. For a registrable motor scooter or an e-bike, you can usually ride it to and from work without FBT. A stand-up e-scooter is a different story, and getting it wrong can turn a tax-free benefit into an annual FBT bill.

A scooter isn’t a car for FBT

Motorcycles and similar vehicles are excluded from the definition of “car” in the FBT law. So when a company lets an employee use a scooter, it’s a “residual benefit”, not a car fringe benefit. That matters because the car rules are much stricter:

• A company car parked at the employee’s home overnight is treated as available for private use, whether or not it’s driven. That rule only applies to cars.

• Driving a company car to and from work counts as private use. For a scooter, home-to-work travel can be exempt.

There’s one catch for electric models. The FBT exemption for electric vehicles only applies to cars, so an electric scooter or e-bike doesn’t qualify for it. Scooters rely on different exemptions, set out below.

Motor scooters and e-bikes: commuting can be FBT-free

A registrable motor scooter or an e-bike can be ridden to and from work without FBT, as long as private use stays limited. The exemption is in section 47(6) of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986. It covers motor vehicles other than cars where the only private use is:

• work-related travel, which includes travel between home and work; and

• other private use that is minor, infrequent and irregular.

The ATO has confirmed in CR 2025/31 that e-bikes are motor vehicles but not cars, so they’re treated the same way as motor scooters.

Parking it at home overnight is fine, because the test is actual use, not availability. To stay within the exemption:

1. No regular weekend or personal trips. Regular recreational use breaks the exemption for the whole FBT year. Once that happens, all private use, including commuting, becomes taxable.
2. Ride solo. The ATO’s view in PCG 2017/14 is that travel with a passenger isn’t work-related travel.
3. No family use. Use by family members counts as private use.

Stand-up e-scooters: keep it at work

For a stand-up e-scooter, the safer approach is to keep it at your business premises overnight and use it only for work. In an edited private ruling (1051935519204), the ATO took the view that stand-up e-scooters are primarily recreational devices, not motor vehicles. If that’s right, the commuting exemption above isn’t available.

Private rulings only bind the ATO for the taxpayer who asked, and the answer can depend on the particular model. But the ruling shows the ATO’s thinking, and no later ruling or case has reversed it.

A separate exemption in section 47(3) helps here. It covers property (other than a motor vehicle) that is ordinarily located on your business premises and wholly or principally used directly in your business. An e-scooter that’s garaged at work and used for business trips should fit. Taking it home every night makes that much harder to argue, and it could become a taxable benefit each year.

If you want to ride to and from work, a registrable motor scooter or an e-bike is the better choice.

If you’re a director and shareholder

The scooter needs to be provided to you as an employee, not as a shareholder. Benefits provided to employees fall under the FBT rules, so the exemptions above apply. Benefits provided to shareholders can instead fall under Division 7A, where private use of a company asset can be treated as a deemed dividend.

For owner-directors, the ATO looks at why you received the benefit. You’ll be on stronger ground if:

• you’re paid a salary or director’s fees through the company’s payroll;

• the company records that the scooter is provided to you as an employee, for work; and

• it’s the kind of benefit the company would give a non-shareholder employee in a similar role.

Deductions and GST

Whichever scooter you choose, the company should be able to deduct the cost and claim the GST.

• Instant asset write-off. For 2026–27, a small business using the simplified depreciation rules can immediately write off an asset costing less than $20,000 (excluding GST), provided it’s first used or installed ready for use during the year. Otherwise, the scooter is depreciated over time.

• GST. A GST-registered company can generally claim back the GST on the purchase. Providing the scooter to an employee as a work benefit doesn’t automatically reduce that credit.

• Reporting. Exempt benefits don’t appear on the employee’s income statement. If a taxable benefit arises, it counts towards the reporting threshold and the company may have an FBT liability.

Records to keep for your scooter

You don’t need a 12-week logbook like you would for a car, but you do need evidence that the conditions are met. We recommend:

1. A company minute at the time of purchase, recording why the scooter was bought and that it’s provided to you as an employee.
2. A written use agreement covering the business purpose, permitted personal use, no family use, and returning the scooter if your employment ends.
3. An entry in the company’s asset register, with insurance in the company’s name.
4. Records of use throughout the year, such as odometer readings or an app-based trip log, plus a note of any personal trips beyond commuting.
5. A short signed statement at the end of each FBT year (31 March) confirming how the scooter was used.

At a glance

Type	Can you commute on it FBT-free?	Where to keep it overnight	Relevant exemption
Registrable motor scooter	Yes, with limited private use	Home or work	s47(6)
E-bike	Yes, with limited private use	Home or work	s47(6)
Stand-up e-scooter	Risky	Work	s47(3)
Company car (for comparison)	No, commuting is private use	Work, if no private use intended	Electric cars only (s8A)

Talk to us before you buy

The right answer depends on the exact make and model, and on how you’ll actually use it. If you’re thinking about buying a scooter or e-bike through your company, book a time with our team and we’ll check the position and set up the paperwork.

This article is general information only and isn’t tax advice. It reflects the law and ATO guidance as at November 2026. Please get advice specific to your circumstances before acting.