Lease car drivers who claim not to use their vehicle for private purposes are being phoned by tax inspectors because their car has been photographed at an ‘unusual place’, the Telegraaf reports on Friday.

Lease car drivers can avoid paying tax for their company car – up to 20% of the catalogue value – if they drive fewer than 500 km a year privately. Drivers have to keep a logbook of their car usage.
Although the tax office has always used photographs, speeding tickets and other evidence to crack down on fraud, it is now directly questioning drivers before they have asked to be exempt from the tax.
A spokesman for the tax office told the paper the phone call is a service to taxpayers. ‘Up to now, in around half of cases lease car drivers have not got their logbooks in order and in many cases they immediately withdraw their request [for a zero tax status],’ the spokesman said.
Tax inspectors use cars fitted with special scanners in an effort to track down people who use their company cars for private business. Festivals, out-of-town shopping centres, sports events and other popular destinations are targeted in particular.