AMSTERDAM: Dutch tax rules surrounding the provision of company bicycles are complex and discourage people from cycling to their place of work, a Dutch motoring organization has said.
Current rules for bicycles provided to employees by their employers work on a similar basis as company cars, in that bikes are generally leased by employers with tax based on the amount of personal usage. However, this means that employees are required to record distances traveled solely for personal use.
In a statement published on its website on August 14, Bovag, the Dutch motoring organization, said that in practice such rules are “unworkable,” and that companies are reluctant to offer bicycles to their employees because of “great fiscal uncertainty.”
“That employers make a bicycle available must be welcomed in all respects and should not be hindered by unworkable fiscal barriers. Bicycles provide a positive contribution to public health, the environment and accessibility at all times,” the organization said.
“A fiscal distinction between private and business use is totally unnecessary and even undesirable in this case,” it added.
Bovag urged the Government to review the rules, noting that the previous tax break scheme provided to employers, abolished some years ago, was much more “attractive.”
