Domestic business trips: new maximum tax flat-rate amounts from February 1St

Reimbursement for domestic business trips: new maximum tax flatrate amounts from 1 October 2022

SD Worx Knowledge Centre

An employee who travels within Belgium on behalf of their employer in this respect incurs costs. The employer may reimburse costs for a domestic business trip on a flat-rate basis.

From 1 February 2022, the tax flat-rate amounts will increase following an index adjustment.

The following amounts apply from 1 February 2022:

• Day allowance: €18.11 per day • Accommodation costs: €135.85 per day

If the employer respects these amounts and the applicable conditions, the tax authorities consider these allowances as a cost proper to the employer.

The allowance then constitutes a non-taxable benefit for the employee and a tax-deductible business expense for the employer.

Consequences for the employer

Provided that all conditions are met, you may grant your employee a higher flat-rate amount as reimbursement of expenses incurred during domestic business trips from 1 February 2022.

Table of contents

Legal content

1. Tax rules

1.1. Amounts

1.2. Conditions

1.2.1. Fixed meal or daily allowance

1.2.2. Monthly flat-rate allowance

1.2.3. Accommodation

2. NSSO rules

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Legal content

1. Tax rules

Both federal civil servants and employees from the private sector who make a business trip or travel on behalf of their employer within Belgium can receive a flat-rate expense allowance for doing so.

The applicable flat-rate amounts are adjusted to the cost of living based on automatic index linking.

There are various conditions attached to the granting of this allowance. If the employer respects this, the tax authorities will consider these allowances as a refund of a cost proper to the employer.

The allowance then constitutes a non-taxable benefit for the employee and a tax-deductible business expense for the employer.

If the conditions are not met or if the employer grants a higher flat-rate compensation, this compensation will be considered as taxable remuneration.

The employer can avoid this if it can prove that the compensation:

• is intended to cover the costs for which it is liable; and • has actually been spent on those costs.

In addition, the employer must ensure that they do not pay the costs covered by the flat-rate amount based on actual supporting documents.

1.1. Amounts

From 1 February 2022, the following maximum flat-rate amounts will apply:

Meal or daily allowance Monthly flat-rate allowance Accommodation costs

Basic amount €10 per day

Indexed amount from 1 February 2022 €18.11 per day

Max. 16 x €10 per month (in fulltime employment)

Max. 16 x €18.11 per month (in full-time employment) €75 per night

€135.85 per night

1.2. Conditions

1.2.1. Fixed meal or daily allowance

Amount

From 1 October 2022, the meal or daily allowance will be €18.11 per day (non-indexed €10).

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This allowance covers all meal costs incurred by the employee during work-related travel.

Conditions

This is subject to the following conditions:

• the travel on behalf of the employer must last at least six hours; • the employer or a third party shall not reimburse the employee's meal costs in any way.

The employee, for example, may not have access to a company restaurant or receive a free meal from a third party.

If the employer grants a meal voucher for the same day, it must deduct the employer's contribution to the meal voucher from the daily allowance.

Anadditional condition applies to federal civil servants.

Their journey must be more than 25 kilometres outside the conurbation of the administrative location.

This condition does not apply to employees employed in the private sector.

1.2.2. Monthly flat-rate allowance

The employer may also use a monthly flat-rate allowance for employees in a travelling job.

In this context, a travelling job means a job that involves regular work-related travel.

Amount

For an employee in full-time work, the monthly allowance is equal to 'a' number of times the amount of the daily allowance (€18.11), up to an absolute maximum of 16 times.

For part-time work, a pro-rata amount must be applied based on the employment percentage.

The employer may grant the allowance irrespective of the exact number of business trips. The flat-rate amount is then linked to a job that involves regular business trips and not to a certain number of business trips.

This monthly amount is a maximum. The tax authorities can base their decision on the business trips made in the previous year in order to assess whether the allocated monthly flat-rate amount correponds to the actual situation.

Conditions

The conditions of minimum duration and minimum distance do not apply here.

However, the cumulative prohibition remains applicable. Under no circumstances may the employer or a third party reimburse the meal costs in any other way.

1.2.3. Accommodation

An employee (or manager) sometimes has to stay somewhere when on a business trip.

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The employer may also reimburse this cost at a flat rate of €135.85 per night (non-indexed: €75).

A cumulative prohibition also applies here.

The employer or a third party may not reimburse or cover these accommodation costs in any other way.

If, for example, an employee (or manager) has free accommodation on site, the employer/company may not grant the supplementary allowance for accommodation costs.

2. NSSO rules

The National Social Security Office (NSSO) applies its own principles with regard to expense allowances for domestic work-related travel.

In this context, the NSSO refers to reimbursement for travel expenses.

Unfortunately, however, the NSSO and the tax authorities are not on the same page, both in terms of the amounts and the minimum duration of the travel.

Below is an overview of the amounts applied by the NSSO and the conditions attached to them:

Type of cost Amount Conditions

Local travel allowance for non-sedentary employees:

absence of amenities

€10/day Non-sedentary means that the employee is obliged to travel during the course of the working day (minimum of four consecutive hours) and is unable to use toilets and other facilities that would normally be available at the office, branch or site.

Local travel allowance for non-sedentary employees: meal €7/day - Non-sedentary means that the employee is obliged to travel during the course of the working day (minimum of four consecutive hours).

- NSSO accepts the amount of the meal allowance only if the employee has no other option but to have a meal off the premises.

Accommodation

expenses in Belgium

SD Worx Social/Legal News March 2022 €35/night

- If the employee is unable to return home at the end of the

day because the work location is too far away.

- Covers the cost of dinner, accommodation and breakfast.

Source: Administrative instructions 2021/4

Both bodies agree on the cumulative prohibition.

For the NSSO, the following also applies:

• The employer is unable to reimburse the cost on a flat-rate basis and on the basis of actual supporting documents.

One of the two systems must therefore be chosen and applied consistently. • The employer's contribution to the meal voucher must be deducted from the meal allowance of €7 if the employee also receives a meal voucher for the day away from home.

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