Working from home: tax advantages!

Before the coronavirus entered The Netherlands, it might occur that you worked from home every now and then. However, working from home has become the norm for some time now. There are some hidden costs associated with working from home. But unfortunately, not all of these costs may be reimbursed untaxed.

Yet, there are plenty of tax options to accommodate your employees while they are working from home. Wondering which ones? Then read on!

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Travel allowance

A logical consequence of working from home is, of course, the change in employees’ travel patterns. However, it has been decided that these changes in travel patterns do not need to be reflected in the travel allowance.

This means employers may simply reimburse the untaxed travel allowance on which it was based originally.

Work-related cost scheme

Another option is to make use of the exemption from the work-related cost scheme. This way, you can meet your employees by reimbursing a telephone, computer, printer, etc. However, these items must be necessary for the work activities to be exempt from tax.

A number of criteria have been drawn up that must be met:

  • The items must be necessary for work activities;
  • The employer bears the full costs;
  • As soon as it is no longer needed, the employee returns the item or buys the provision at residual value (another option is to place the value in the ‘free space’).

Health and safety facilities

If you have to work from home for a longer period of time, it might be the case that you do not have the right chair, desk, etc. Then, there is a good chance that you will get complaints in the long term. As an employer, you must ensure that good working conditions are provided. That is why you can provide the items needed for this without paying wage tax on it.

Free space

Finally, there is the “free space”. As you may have noticed, there is no exemption for additional electricity and water use, consumptions and other costs that may be incurred. The moment you do receive compensation for this, you must pay wage tax on this. Unless it is concluded in the free space: 1.7% of the first € 400,000 of the wage bill. Everything above that has a free space of 1.2%.

We are happy to help!

Do you still have any questions regarding the tax advantages of working from home? Or do you have other tax-related questions? We are happy to help! Feel free to contact us using the information mentioned below.

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