From January, every Belgian employer must also offer the mobility budget to every employee with (or entitled to) a company car. However, only one in five small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, is aware of this new obligation. This is according to a recent survey of more than 500 SMEs conducted by SD Worx.

The figures vary significantly from region to region, however, with only 10% in Brussels unaware of the change.

Almost 20,000 mobility budgets

At the end of 2024, Belgium had 572,416 company cars that employees were also allowed to use privately. This represents an increase of 0.7% year on year.

Strikingly, the rise in the number of company cars is also accompanied by a growing popularity of the mobility budget. This allows employees to trade in their company car for a tax-friendly budget, which they can use to lease a bicycle, for example, or even pay off their mortgage.

Last year, 18,386 employees in Belgium used the mobility budget, almost double the number from the previous year.

To achieve the energy and climate targets for 2030, the new federal government has decided to strengthen tax incentives for green mobility, such as introducing a mobility budget for every employee with (or entitlement to) a company car from January 1st.

Unknown is unloved

However, a survey by SD Worx now shows that only one in five SMEs is fully aware of the new obligation. Brussels is leading the way in its implementation. Only one in ten SMEs in Brussels is still completely unaware of it. In Flanders, almost twice as many, namely 18%, are oblivious.

What’s more, around six in ten Flemish SMEs with company cars (63%) do not want to implement it at all. In Brussels and Wallonia, this figure is lower, at 46% and 51% respectively.

The reasons for not yet implementing the mobility budget include insufficient knowledge of the possibilities (42%), a suspicion that employees will not be interested (37%), or a fear of administrative complexity.

Company car needed for customer visits

Another important aspect is that most company cars are company vehicles, which are often needed for customer visits, making trading them in difficult. For example, six out of ten company cars at Flemish SMEs are company vehicles, and the majority are used for more than 50% and even more than 75% of the time for customer visits.

“Of course, there is no concrete legislation yet,” says Charlotte Helsen, SME specialist at SD Worx, “but the government’s intention to expand the mobility budget has already been discussed in the media over the past year. It is surprising that six months before it comes into effect, little is known about this new obligation.”