Regulations governing tax-free compensation (additional) travel expenses for commuting

In addition to and taking account of chapter 5 of the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities and article 10 of the regulations governing the Employment Conditions Selection Model Radboud University, the employer establishes the following regulations.

Article 1 Tax-free compensation (additional) travel expenses

By exchanging sources, the employee is eligible to receive an (extra) tax-free compensation for travel expenses for commuting. Limitations as mentioned in article 13, section 3 clause b and article 31a, section 2, clause a, in 2 and 3 of the Dutch Wet op Loonbelasting 1964 (Law on Income Tax).

Article 2 Tax-free compensation: employee travelling by public transport

1. The maximum tax-free compensation amounts to the actual costs for public transport minus the travel compensation already received from the employer. The employee declares the actual costs for public transport in the usual way. Should it afterwards become clear that the tax conditions have not been met, the tax consequences will be payable by the employee and will be deducted from the net salary.
2. Instead of the tax-free compensation as stipulated in section 1, the employee may also opt for the tax-free compensation as outlined in article 3.

Article 3 Tax-free compensation: any method of travel

The maximum tax-free compensation amounts to €0.23 per kilometre actually travelled, minus the travel compensation already received from the employer.

Article 4 Entry into force

These regulations enter into force on 1 January 2024. 

Explanation

Under certain conditions, employees receive a tax-free travel expense compensation for commuting to and from Radboud University. The compensation is lower than the maximum tax-free amount Radboud University is allowed to pay its employees. When participating in the Employment Conditions Selection Model, an employee can exchange sources for an (extra) tax-free travel expense compensation for commuting, to a maximum of the actual costs incurred for public transport, or €0.23 per kilometre actually travelled. This amount per kilometre shall be adjusted annually in line with general price developments, up to no more than the maximum tax-free compensation amount.

Travelling by personal transport (car)

The travel expense compensation for commuting is paid on a reimbursement basis, for which the employee uses the expense claim module in BASS. The travel expense compensation for commuting as established by the tax authority on an annual basis amounts to: 

Number of travel days claimed x total distance travelled per day x € 0.23

In the case of set travel expense compensation: The set travel expense compensation for commuting for an employee in fulltime employment as established by the tax authority on an annual basis amounts to (proportionally adjusted to the number of travel days for part- time employees and hybrid working):

214 days x total distance travelled per day x €0.23

To calculate the total distance, the university uses PostNL’s postal code table. Using the journey planner on the Dutch website anwb.nl, the employee can roughly calculate the distance between his house and the university. The university’s postal code is 6525 HR. Please choose the ‘kortste route’ (shortest route) and use only full kilometres, rounding off the number. 

Under tax authority regulations, a cost analysis at the end of the calendar year is obligatory for a oneway journey of over 75 kilometres. This analysis is meant to establish whether the set expense compensation on the basis of the calculation corresponds with the actual commuting kilometres during the calendar year multiplied by €0.23 per kilometre. This means the employee should keep a kilometre administration of which days he travelled to and from work. Should it become clear that the number of commuting kilometres used in the calculation is higher than the actual number of commuting kilometres in a calendar year, then tax has to be paid for the difference. Should it become clear that the actual number of commuting kilometres is higher than the number used in the calculation, then this will not lead to a higher compensation in the Employment Conditions Selection Model.

Should the employee not wish to perform the cost analysis, then he can choose to cap the travel expense compensation for the Employment Conditions Selection Model at 75 kilometres one way.

If the employee has been out of office for one or more protracted periods because of holiday, sick leave, leave or other reasons, then the travel expense compensation for commuting will be re-calculated, meaning that a tax-free compensation cannot be claimed over the period of protracted absence. Protracted absence here means instances of an uninterrupted period of absence of more than 6 weeks. If this is due to sick leave, the travel expense compensation is only paid again starting from the first day of the month following the month of recovery.

Travelling by public transport

Employees who live more than 10 kilometres from their job and who use public transport for commuting, and who fill out a Dutch Income Tax Return, can claim a rebate for travel expenses for commuting. However, the expenses received from the employer should be deducted from this rebate. Generally, increasing the travel expense compensation by using the Employment Conditions Selection Model is more favourable than claiming the travel expenses of public transport as a rebate in the income tax return.

Rules and conditions (for travelling by public transport)

When using public transport, the employee declares the actual costs of the public transport or the subscription costs (if this is the cheapest way to travel), submitting (uploading) the invoice issued in their name with a statement of the journeys made, the transport tickets or a transaction overview of the personal OV-chipkaart/NSbusinesscard. Journeys made using an anonymous OV-chipkaart cannot be reimbursed.