Tax benefit

Both passenger and driver save money with Carpool! Carpoolers not only share in driving costs, but they can also benefit from a tax incentive. And that's what more and more Belgians do: In 2014, more than 15 000 people managed to exempt 8 million euro from tax in total.

If your company officially organizes carpooling, you can even exempt your full commuting allowance, even if you don't carpool every day!

General principles

The costs made for doing your job, for example travel costs, can be deducted from your taxable income under certain conditions. You don't have to pay taxes on this amount. The government offers you two different options:

1. Based on your gross wage, the government calculates a lump sum that will be deducted from your taxable income. In this system you can obtain additional exemptions, for example for carpoolers. Carpoolers can receive a tax incentive if the carpooling is organized by their company and if an agreement between the employee and the employer exists.
2. You can also prove your professional costs. If these are higher than the lump sum, they will be deducted from your taxable income.

Attention: The exemptions you get from the 2 options are not combinable! On your tax form you can make the choice. So you have to calculate for yourself which option is most advantageous, which is mostly the first option. Depending on your choice, the rules to enjoy your tax advantage as a carpooler are different.

As it isn’t easy to manage the tax regulation, Mpact has developed a manual. However, it is only available in French and Dutch.

If you ‘d like to have more specific information to take advantage of these tax benefits or to introduce the system in your organization, please contact the Mpact experts’ team via carpool@mpact.be.

Additional questions

What if I drive a company car?

If you have a company car that you use in your spare time and/or for commuting, you will be taxed on it. An exemption for carpooling is not possible in this case.

If the vehicle provided by the employer is only used for carpooling, you can exempt this from taxation. However, this requires rules to be drawn up and an agreement to be signed between employee(s) and employer(s).

The employee may not use the vehicle for private travel. Only the trip from home to the first car-pool partner, or the route on the way home, may be made alone. However, the proportion of carpooling must be at least 80% of the trajectory.

In practice, this usually concerns company vans.

 What if I'm traveling with someone from another company?

To benefit from a tax incentive, carpool partners do not need to be from the same company. It is possible that your carpool partner is simply your husband or wife. If the carpooling is organized by the company, then both partners can benefit from the tax incentive.

 Will the fee to the driver be taxed?

Usually the passenger pays a fee to the driver to share in the cost. This compensation is determined in mutual agreement between driver and passenger, as long as the trip is not profitable. In no case the fee will not be taxed. Click here for more info.

 What if the driver makes a detour to pick up a passenger?

It happens occasionally that a driver has to make a small detour to pick up a carpool partner. This additional route is also seen as a commute to work by the insurance. The employer can pay the kilometers you drive extra as service kilometers. Service kilometers are not taxed.

 I didn't carpooling all year. Can I still benefit from the tax advantage?

Yes! If you choose the first option, you can calculate the exemption based on the period you have carpooled. So if you carpool only a few days a week, you can still benefit from the tax advantage.