The legal mobility budget: An overview

Looking for the most up-to-date information on the legal mobility budget?

Read everything you need to know in this comprehensive overview.

Overview

  1. What is the legal mobility budget?
  2. Who is entitled to the legal mobility budget?
  3. How do I calculate the legal mobility budget?
  4. How do I implement the legal mobility budget?
  5. Where do employees spend their budgets on in Pillar 2?
  6. How do I keep a record of all my employees’ budgets?

What is the legal mobility budget?

The legal mobility budget is a sustainable and tax-advantageous alternative to the company car. With that budget, employees exchange their company cars for an environmentally friendly car and other alternative forms of transport.

Specifically, the legal mobility budget consists of three pillars:

  1. Environmentally friendly company cars: cars with a maximum CO2 emission of 95 g/km (this regulation will change in 2026 to cars without CO2 emissions).
  2. Sustainable mobility and housing costs: public or shared transport, purchase or maintenance of a bicycle or scooter, rental or loan …
  3. Cash: at the end of the year, your employee will be paid out the remaining budget, after a reduction of 38.07% special employee contribution.

Want to know everything about the mobility budget?

Subscribe to our weekly e-mail series.

5 essential topics, 5 short e-mails.

Who is entitled to the legal mobility budget?

The answer is twofold:

  • Employees who are already driving a company car today.
  • Employees with a position that entitles them to a company car, but don’t (yet) use it.

We also make two remarks here:

  • The legal mobility budget can only be implemented when you have had a mobility policy for three years and when at least one employee has a company car on which he or she pays VAA.
  • When you currently offer salary benefits in exchange for the company car, your employee cannot exchange these benefits for the mobility budget.

How do I calculate the legal mobility budget?

In short? Based on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). In other words: the total annual gross cost of the company car.

It includes costs related to the car, such as:

  • The lease or rental price of the car
  • Fuel Insurance
  • CO2 solidarity contribution
  • Non-deductible VAT

For employees who are eligible for the mobility budget, but do not have a company car, it is different. They first choose a fictitious company car. Based on that you determine their TCO.

The two official TCO formulas have since been approved in a royal decree. They will take effect in 2024. When booking a demo, you discover how you can best tackle your TCO calculation.

In the meantime, you can appeal to some concrete guidelines. The budget amounts to …

  • Minimum €3,055
  • Maximum one-fifth of the gross annual salary of the employee or €16,293 per calendar year

These amounts are indexed annually on 1 January.

Already allocated mobility budgets can be adjusted when your mobility policy allows it, without exceeding your company’s sectoral salary index.

Need a practical example? Check out how Business & Decision tackled it.

 

How do I implement the legal mobility budget?

We spoke to an expert in the field, Thierry Devresse of My Mobility Budget Butler, who broke down the implementation into five steps:

  1. Update your mobility policy
  2. Consider teleworking
  3. Draft a policy with an eye to the statutory mobility budget
  4. Establish procedures for the statutory mobility budget
  5. Communicate thoroughly with your employees

He emphasized not tackling this process alone. You will lose a lot of time trying to figure out all the legal regulations.

Social secretariats help with some of the above items, but not all. For a complete unburdening, it is best to involve a consultant such as MMBB.

See how Silverfin tackled this in practice.

Where do employees spend their budgets on in Pillar 2?

We briefly mentioned it earlier. Pillar 2 consists of sustainable means of transport and housing costs. In more detail, it covers …

  • Tickets & subscriptions for public transport within the European Economic Area
  • Tickets & subscriptions for shared transport within the European Economic Area
  • International train tickets within the European Economic Area
  • Purchase of an (electric) bike or scooter
  • Maintenance or equipment for your (electric) bike or scooter
  • Rental costs or mortgage loans of employees who live within a radius of 10 kilometers around the workplace or more than 50% work from home
  • Family members of the employee may also use the budget for the above

As an employer, you are not obliged to enter the full list. It’s best to make sure your offer meets the needs of your employees.

How do I keep a record of all my employees’ budgets?

Keeping track of expenses, remaining budgets, reimbursements… No small feat. With a digital tool like Olympus Mobility, you can keep control.

In the Olympus management portal…

  • You can easily assign budgets to your employees
  • Get a monthly overview of mobility expenses
  • No longer process reimbursements for other external purchases in Pillar 2
  • Download the Pillar 3 report at the end of the year and send it easily to your social secretariat or payroll responsible

Furthermore, your employees also get a real-time overview of their remaining budget in the Olympus app.

Want to implement the legal mobility budget?