Soft Mobility

The home-to-work trip is the trip you make between your home and the fixed place where you work. The trips you make during your work do not therefore fall into this category. If you go to a client for example, it is only a business trip.

A trip can be made up of several trips. The notion of journey is a geographical notion while the notion of displacement refers to the action of moving by means of a determined mode of transport. Each trip is unique.

Home-to-work travel is considered as personal travel, the costs of which are your responsibility. Your employer will sometimes pay you compensation for expenses incurred. This compensation may be (partially) exempt from tax. In certain cases and if the conditions are met, you can deduct the related costs as professional expenses on your tax return.

Other business trips are trips made in Belgium or abroad other than those made between home and the place of work and those made privately.

These are for example:

visits to clients or patients
the journey to the place where continuing vocational training is followed, when this place does not coincide with the place of work
the trip to the garage where the maintenance of the vehicle is carried out, insofar as it is assigned to the exercise of your professional activity
This also applies to the trips you make when you leave your home and go directly to customers without going to your office or the headquarters of the company that employs you.

For ecological purposes, several measures have been put in place to increase the use of bicycles.

Among the various measures, there are:

the granting of an allowance by the employer combined with a tax exemption up to a maximum amount of 0.24 euro per km traveled for financial year 2022, income 2021 by means of a bicycle for travel between home and place of work. (Fiscal year 2023, revenue 2022: 0.25 euro). The purpose of this allowance is to encourage more use of the bicycle and to cover the costs of using the bicycle.

the provision by the employer of a company bicycle for the benefit of his worker on a tax-exempt basis.

the possibility of opting for the actual costs of an amount of 0.24 euros per km traveled for the 2022 financial year, 2021 income for home-workplace travel. (Fiscal year 2023, revenue 2022: 0.25 euro).

In addition, you can accumulate different advantages. For example, you benefit from a tax-exempt bicycle allowance at the same time as the exemption from the benefit deriving from the provision of a company bicycle, while calculating the actual costs of 0.24 euro per km traveled for fiscal year 2022, revenue 2021. (Fiscal year 2023, revenue 2022: 0.25 euro). If you opt for the actual costs, you must not deduct the indemnity from the total amount of the calculated actual costs otherwise you lose the benefit of the exempt indemnity.

The granting of the bicycle allowance is completely independent of the type of bicycle used (it does not matter whether it is a racing bicycle, a hybrid bicycle, an electric bicycle, a mountain bike, etc. .). The only condition required to exempt the bicycle allowance is the fact of actually using the bicycle for travel between home and the workplace.

It therefore does not matter whether you use your own bicycle or whether it is a bicycle provided by the employer.

Yes. You can always resume your home-to-work journey at your actual costs, even if your employer has paid the subscription for you. You can do this for up to 0.15 euro per kilometer. In practice, you must make a long journey daily to exceed the amount of the flat fee.

Attention !

Remember that if you justify your actual expenses in your tax return, the compensation from your employer becomes fully taxable.

To know the best option for you, you can do a simulation in Tax-on-Web (link is external) or Tax-calc (link is external).

The flat rate, also called the “legal flat rate”, covers all professional expenses, so also those for the personal use of your car for your home – workplace travel. But also, in particular, the public transport subscription for travel to your place of work, the development of space in your home that you use for your profession, or the purchase of equipment and literature that you finance yourself. .

Everyone is entitled to the lump sum deduction. These costs do not have to be proven.

They are calculated based on percentages that increase by income bracket:

Flat-rate professional expenses are limited to 4,920 euros (financial year 2022, income 2021). (Fiscal year 2023, income 2022: 5,040 euros).

For company directors, the flat fee is calculated at a percentage of 3% to be applied to all professional income, with a maximum of 2,590 euros (financial year 2022, income 2021). (Fiscal year 2023, income 2022: 2,660 euros).

Quelle que soit votre profession, vous pouvez toujours choisir de déduire vos frais professionnels réels. Vous devez cependant prouver la réalité de ces frais et apporter la preuve que vous les avez payés vous-même.

La déduction des frais réels visée ici concerne uniquement les déplacements personnels (domicile – lieu de travail).

Selon le mode de transport utilisé, les déductions suivantes sont possibles :

• Déplacement au moyen d’une voiture, d’une voiture mixte ou d’un minibus :

Regardless of your occupation, you can always choose to deduct your actual business expenses. However, you must prove the reality of these costs and provide proof that you paid them yourself.

The deduction of actual costs referred to here only concerns personal travel (home – place of work).

Depending on the mode of transport used, the following deductions are possible:

Travel by car, mixed car or minibus:
When a car, a mixed car or a minibus is used for home-to-work travel, a flat rate of 0.15 euro per km traveled is applicable without any limitation as to the distance traveled.

Travel by means of transport other than a car, mixed car, or a minibus:
In the context of home-to-work travel via a means of transport other than a car, mixed car or minibus, the actual costs can be calculated according to two methods at the choice of the taxpayer.