All workers must receive a kilometer allowance of €0.19. This is what the FNV trade union advocates. According to the FNV, people who earn little are currently the victims of the rising fuel prices, because they often receive a lower or no kilometer allowance at all.
Thanks to the war in Ukraine, the petrol price rose to above €2.25 per liter today. As a result, driving today has become more expensive than ever. The FNV emphasizes that many workers do not receive a good mileage allowance. “At the end of last year, for example, we negotiated with great difficulty that people in textile laundries receive 1 cent more, from 7 to 8 cents for kilometer allowance,” according to the union. That is not enough to cover current costs. The FNV therefore wants every employee to receive the maximum tax-free kilometer allowance of €0.19 per kilometer in order to be able to cope with the current prices.
In fact, the FNV would prefer that the kilometer allowance be even higher. “The 19 cents per kilometer is a tax limit, but employers can always reimburse more,” said a spokeswoman for FNV. “Nothing prevents them from doing that. They just don’t want to, because then they have to pay tax on it.” The AWVN, in its own words the most important advisor to Dutch employers on employment conditions, says that it is difficult for employers to pay more than the 19 cents. “If you are going to pay more, you will have payroll taxes and that makes it very complicated,” explains a spokesperson. “Employers prefer to look for other means to keep employees happy.”
There has been dissatisfaction with the tax limit of 19 cents per kilometer for some time. Earlier, the Association of Business Drivers, among others, argued for an increase in the kilometer allowance. According to the VZR, that €0.19 is almost never cost-effective in practice. According to the VZR, the employer should also pay an ‘availability allowance’, an amount per kilometer for making the private car available to the employer.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl