New record obligation for employer's own expenses
September 2021 – The reimbursement of employer's own expenses is being regulated more and more strictly. At the beginning of 2021, the tax authorities described the limits of the tax exemption for various reimbursements in even more detail. From 1 January 2022, the employer must also inform the tax authorities how he pays the employee.
Employer's or employee's own expenses
Employer's own expenses are the expenses of the employee that must be paid by the employer. For example, if the employee teleworks and uses his or her own internet connection, electricity, etc., these costs must be covered by the employer.
Please note that employees sometimes also have to incur costs in the course of their work, such as the cost of transport to the office. These are the employee's own expenses.
The difference between the two is very important: if, as an employer, you pay a telework allowance, this is not taxable income for the employee (you are reimbursing an expense that you have to bear). On the other hand, if you reimburse an expense that is the worker's own (for example, an allowance for renting a residence near the office), this is in principle a taxable salary.
Receipts or lump sum
In principle, reimbursement must be made on the basis of concrete receipts. If your employee has to pay a company expense in advance, for example, you must reimburse him or her on the basis of the ticket he or she gives you.
But things get more complicated if the employee has to drive to a customer's premises in his or her own car. How should you calculate the amount to be reimbursed in this case?
The tax authorities allow certain expenses to be reimbursed on a flat-rate basis.
For example, for the use of a private car to visit a client, you can use the expense allowance paid to civil servants, which is currently 0.3707 euros per kilometre.
For the costs that an employee incurs in order to telework structurally and regularly for a substantial part of his or her working time, you can allocate a flat-rate office allowance of up to EUR 129.48 per month. Note that for the months of April, May and June 2021 this maximum has been increased to 144.31 euros per month. This increase was extended for three months at the beginning of July (July, August and September 2021).
On the 'fiche'
As an employer, you must draw up tax forms each year. On this form, you must enter data that must enable the employee to file a personal income tax return, i.e. the amount of the salary, the withholding tax deducted, any arrears, etc. These data are also transmitted to the tax authorities.
According to a tax law of 27 June 2021, in case of reimbursement on the basis of receipts, the amount of this reimbursement must be communicated to the tax authorities. The tax authorities want to know whether, in addition to the flat-rate reimbursement of certain expenses, you also reimburse actual expenses on the basis of tickets that the worker gives you.
However, the law is rather limited in its description
It seems that if you only reimburse a lump sum, this does not have to be disclosed. But what if you reimburse a lump sum and exceptionally also actual expenses? Do you have to mention everything on the form or only these exceptional expenses?
And how will the taxman achieve his objective (avoiding double reimbursement) if you do not have to describe the expense? Or is the aim that you set up a whole administration for the reimbursement of actual expenses specific to the employer?
If you do not comply with the obligation, an administrative fine is provided for, but greater clarity is also needed in this respect. To be continued.
