Belgian commuters get higher mandatory bicycle allowance

Employer and employee representatives within the Belgian National Labor Council have agreed on a mandatory bicycle allowance of €0,27/km, with a maximum of 40 kilometers per day. The new regulation will take effect from May 1st, although last year, one in three employers already paid a bicycle allowance.

In 2022, 29% of Belgian employers paid a bicycle allowance. In 2017, it was only 17%. The maximum reimbursement last year was €0,25/km. The share of Belgians with a bicycle allowance also doubled in five years, from 7% in 2017 to 14% in 2022. The figures come from SD Worx, HR service provider and the largest payroll calculator in Belgium.

Maximum of €10,8/day

The attributed allowance increased by 5% in 2022, meaning that cycling commuters traveled five percent more kilometers by bike. A cycling employee got in 2020 on average €338, in 2021 €336, up to €352 in 2022. With the newly agreed allowance of €0,27/km, the amount will rise again. “2023 will become the year of the bicycle allowance, says Veerle Michiels, mobility expert at SD Worx.

The tax-exempt allowance will amount to a maximum of 10,8 euros a day, which is a nice incentive for employees to cycle (part of) their home-work journey regularly.

Fewer kilometers

Michiels: “In 2022, one out of seven Belgian employees (14%) got a bicycle allowance: in Flanders 18%, and in Brussels 6%. However, both bicycle allowances and kilometers covered decreased in the last three years.”

SD Worx has analyzed the occurrence of bicycle allowance since 2016. The study concerned a sample population of 1 million employees in 35 000 companies.

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