COUNTRY FACTSHEET
Expense Compliance in the Netherlands
Country Demographics
VAT rates
In the Netherlands, Value-Added Tax (VAT) is levied. The general consumption tax is charged directly on the sale of goods and services in the Netherlands.
The different VAT rates in the Netherlands are:
| Rate | Type | Goods and services |
| 21% | General/high | All goods and services, except those excluded |
| 9% | Low | Common products or services such as food and drinks, agricultural products and services, medicines, books, daily newspapers and magazines (find the extensive list) |
| 0% | Zero | Business conducted in foreign countries from the Netherlands; supply of goods from the Netherlands to another EU country; services related to cross-border transactions; international transport of passengers |
Some goods and services are exempt from VAT; find more information about these exemptions on the Tax and Customs Administration’s website.
Per Diem Rates
Employers in the Netherlands can provide their employees per diem as compensation for the increased costs of meals and lodging when on a business trip. This would be considered tax free up to a certain amount. The allowed amounts differ whether it is a business trip within the Netherlands or a business trip abroad.
Domestic Business Trips
The requirement for this domestic per diem are the following:
- the business trip lasts at least 4 hours;
- the destination of the business trip is in another municipality or at least one kilometre from the employee’s primary place of work.
|
|
Total | The part you can reimburse tax free | Notes | |
| Small expenses during the day | €7,02 | €5,93 | ||
| Small expenses in the evening | €20,95 | €11,86 | This applies if the employee stays overnight because of the business trip. | |
| Lodging | €152,19 | €140,57 | This is the amount per night. | |
| Breakfast | €14,87 | €13,88 | This applies if the employee stayed overnight because of the business trip. | |
| Lunch | €21,40 | €11,88 | This applies to every period from 12:00 to 14:00 that falls within your business trip. | |
| Dinner | €32,37 | €29,82 | This applies to any period from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. that falls within your business trip. |
Any free meals (like a free breakfast supplied by the hotel) must be deducted from the per diem allowance.
It is important to note that the reimbursement for lodging, breakfast, lunch and dinner needs to be incurred in a generally accessible facility that offers accommodation and/or meals and/or drinks for consumption.
Lower daily allowance
Employers can set a reduced daily allowance for employees who travel frequently. If a business trip lasts longer than 8 days, the evening allowance for small expenses should be halved from the 9th day onward.
Fixed allowance for business trips
Instead of reimbursing each trip, employers can provide a fixed monthly or quarterly allowance. The amount should reflect the employee’s typical number of business trips and average expenses, and it must not exceed the allowances it replaces. If relevant circumstances change, the fixed allowance must be adjusted, and employees are required to inform you of such changes.
Business Trips Abroad
The allowed amount of daily allowance for business trips abroad differs depending on the country. The list of allowances per country updated on the 1st of January and on the 1st of July every year. You can find the daily allowances per country applicable for 1 July – 31 December 2025 here.
Employees are also entitled to “other costs” outside of accommodation and incidental expense for subsistence during international trips. These costs are broken down into the following components, expressed as a percentage of the total other costs related to the business trip destination:
| Small expenses | 1,5% | For every hour that the business trip lasts (for example 36% for 24 hours) |
| Breakfast | 12% | This applies to every period from 6:00 am to 8:00 am that falls within your business trip |
| Lunch | 20% | This applies to every period from 12:00 to 14:00 that falls within your business trip |
| Dinner | 32% | This applies to any period from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. that falls within your business trip. |
To be eligible for the reimbursement of accommodation and additional costs, the business trip must last more than four hours. Employees will not be reimbursed for meals offered by the carrier as part of their ticket.
Lower daily allowance
- May be applied if a business trip exceeds 60 days and the employee works from one temporary residence outside the Netherlands
- From the 61st day, halve the allowance for small expenses, breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Employers may apply the reduction earlier if circumstances require
No daily allowance
A daily allowance is not granted for:
- Business trips shorter than 4 hours
- Domestic trips under 4 hours connecting to a flight or boat journey (reimburse accommodation costs for a connecting European flight instead)
- The flight portion of air travel outside Europe
- Visiting trips during a long-term assignment (reimburse accommodation costs for travel between the temporary and regular residence instead)
Work-related Costs Scheme (WKR)
In the Netherlands, the work-related costs scheme (Werkkostenregeling) allows employers to provide tax-free reimbursements. This covers things like sports subscriptions or gift vouchers.
The amount that you are allowed to spend tax-free is called the tax-free space. The discretionary margin is determined every year and applies annually; this means that any unused part of the discretionary margin cannot be carried over to the next year.
| Year | Discretionary margin on taxable wages up to and including €400,000 | Discretionary margin on taxable wages above €400,000 |
| 2025 | 2,00% | 1,18% |
An employer can reimburse any expense incurred by the individual employee but that they must remain below the threshold, or it will be subject to an 80% levy.
You can find out more information about what is not exempt under werkkostenregeling in chapter 22 of the Payroll Taxes Handbook.
Record Keeping
Employers need to keep all receipts in their administration for a period of 7-10 years depending on the services they cover.
These receipts can be scanned and digitally store as long as they are a correct and complete reproduction, and all authenticity features are stored too. If these requirements are met, the original paper receipts do not need to be kept.
The digital receipts need to be stored for 7 years and must be verifiable within a reasonable period; electronic services, telecommunication services and radio and television broadcasting services are an exception and must be kept for 10. Dutch tax authority provides more information.
Work-related Personal Mobility of Persons (WPM)
Following the work-related mobility of persons (WPM – rapportageverplichting werkgebonden personenmobiliteit), organisations with more than 100 employees are required to report on their employees’ business travel and commuting travel from July 2024.
Decision on CO₂ Reduction in Work-related Mobility
This reporting obligation stems from the Climate Agreement (Klimaatakkoord). Nearly half of CO₂ emissions from personal mobility come from work-related travel. The obligation is intended to increase transparency and require employers to make informed choices that reduce emissions.
Data Collection and Submission
The yearly kilometres per mobility category and the type of fuel used must be reported to the government (RVO) to comply with the necessary reporting.
The following data will need to be reported:
| Business Mobility | Commuting Travel | |
| Car, gasoline | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| Car, diesel | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| (Plug-in) Hybrid cars | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| 100% Electric cars | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| Cars with other fuels | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| Motorcycle, gasoline | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| Electric motorcycle | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| Moped/scooter, gasoline | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| Moped/scooter, electric | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| (e-)Bike and walking | Yearly kilometres | Yearly kilometres |
| Public transport | Total amount in euros | Yearly kilometres |
More information can be found on the RVO website.
Mileage
In the Netherlands, employers can reimburse their employees for using their private vehicle for business journeys and/or commuting journeys.
The maximum tax-free mileage allowance for 2025 is 0,23euro/km. This does not differ depending on the mode of transportation. Any reimbursement above the approved mileage allowance is subject to tax.
Commuting via public transport
If an employee commutes to and from work via public transport, they may deduct a fixed amount from their income for tax purposes, rather than the actual cost incurred.
To be entitled to a travel deduction the following conditions must be met:
- The distance of a one-way trip from home to work by public transport must be greater than 10 kilometres.
- The employee travels to work 1 or more days per week, or they travel to the same workplace on at least 40 calendar days in a 24-hour window.
- The employee has either a public transport statement or travel statement.
Public transport statement proves that an individual has travelled on public transport. This may already be given to Belastingdienst by the provider or employees may need to request a public transport statement directly from the transport provider themselves.
Travel statement states relevant information such as name and address of both employee and employer and the number of days per week travelled via public transport.
Commuting via public transport deductions
Mileage
The amount you can deductible depends on the distance from the employee’s home to work and how many days they travel.
The deductions are outlined below:
| One-way distance | You travel 4 days a week or more | You travel 3 days a week | You travel 2 days a week | You travel 1 day a week |
| 0 km to 10 km | € 0 | € 0 | € 0 | € 0 |
| 11 km to 15 km | € 565 | € 424 | € 283 | € 142 |
| 16 km to 20 km | € 750 | € 563 | € 375 | € 188 |
| 21 km to 30 km | € 1,248 | € 936 | € 624 | € 312 |
| 31 km to 40 km | € 1,548 | € 1,161 | € 774 | € 387 |
| 41 km to 50 km | € 2,016 | € 1,512 | € 1,008 | € 504 |
| 51 km to 60 km | € 2,244 | € 1,683 | € 1,122 | € 561 |
| 61 km to 70 km | € 2,488 | € 1,866 | € 1,244 | € 622 |
| 71 km to 80 km | € 2,574 | € 1,931 | € 1,287 | € 644 |
| 81 km to 90 km | € 2,609 | € 1,957 | € 1,305 | € 653 |
| 90 km and more | € 2,609 | * | * | * |
*In this case, the travel deduction is € 0.29 per kilometre of the distance one way times the number of days you travelled in 2024. The deduction is a maximum of € 2,609.