Bicycle allowance 2026: how much must you pay?
Last updated: August 2026
One of your employees has been cycling to the office for six months. They have never asked you for anything. You still owe them an allowance, and you have owed it since day one.
The obligation has applied across the board since 2023 and often comes to light late, during an inspection or after a complaint. It does not depend on the size of the company, on the sector, or on anyone's goodwill.
To be clear: the bicycle allowance is not a benefit you choose to offer. It is something owed, with a minimum amount, a ceiling, and particularly favourable payroll treatment if you handle it well.
In short: CLA 164 imposes a bicycle allowance on every employer not already covered by a sectoral or company agreement. In 2026 it stands at €0.30 per kilometre, for a maximum of 40 kilometres per day. The amount stays exempt from contributions and tax up to €0.37 per kilometre.
What do you owe someone who cycles to work?
An allowance, as soon as they regularly use a bicycle for the journey between home and the workplace. The obligation stems from CLA no. 164 of 24 January 2023, applicable since 1 May 2023 (FPS Employment, accessed 31 August 2026).
Two notions decide the entitlement. First the type of cycle: the ordinary bicycle opens the right, and so do the motorised cycle and the speed pedelec. For those last two, a single condition applies: they only qualify if they are electrically powered. Then the word regularly: once a week is enough, as is use limited to certain months of the year, the summer months for instance. The worker does not have to come every day, nor cycle the whole journey.
What CLA 164 imposes, and on whom
This agreement has a supplementary character: it does not apply to everyone in the same way, it fills a gap. If your Joint Committee has concluded its own agreement on the bicycle allowance, or if your company has one, that text applies rather than CLA 164.
In practice, then, your first step is not to calculate but to check your sector. A sectoral agreement may set a different amount, a different distance, or its own conditions. CLA 164 only steps in where there is nothing.
One example shows what that means, and it cuts both ways. Joint Committee 200, the largest in the country for white-collar staff, has its own bicycle allowance. Today it stands at €0.27 per kilometre, so less than the €0.30 of CLA 164. That is not an anomaly: a sectoral agreement takes precedence, including when it is less generous, precisely because CLA 164 only fills a gap. From 1 October 2026 that sectoral amount rises to €0.32 per kilometre, with a ceiling of €12.80 per day (Securex, accessed 31 August 2026). Check that daily ceiling: €12.80 divided by €0.32 brings you back to the same 40 kilometres as CLA 164, simply expressed in euros.
What is not open to debate is the principle: no employer may refuse any allowance on the grounds that they made no arrangements. That is exactly the gap CLA 164 came to fill.
Do you have to wait for the worker to ask? No. The obligation arises from regular cycling, not from a complaint. That is what explains retroactive corrections: the entitlement was running while nobody was thinking about it. The allowance appears as a separate item on the payslip, outside gross pay, as our guide to the calculation from gross to net sets out.
The 2026 amount and the kilometre ceiling
For 2026 the CLA 164 allowance stands at €0.30 per kilometre travelled, up to a maximum of 40 kilometres per day, meaning 20 kilometres out and as many back. The amount is indexed every 1 January: it was €0.29 in 2025 (Securex, accessed 31 August 2026).
Beyond 40 kilometres a day you are not required to cover the additional distance. You may do so, but that then falls under your own policy rather than the obligation. Watch the distinction: this 40-kilometre limit belongs to the obligation under CLA 164, not to the tax exemption, which has no maximum distance per day.
What about other means of transport?
Cycling is not the only journey you have to contribute towards, and the rules differ by mode. Train and public transport create an obligation, the private car does not. Here is where the obligations stand for an employer not covered by any more favourable sectoral agreement (FPS Employment, accessed 31 August 2026).
| Means of transport | Obligation | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Train | Mandatory, whatever the distance | The flat-rate amounts of CLA 19/11. If you use the third-party payer scheme, your contribution is 71.8% of the season ticket |
| Other public transport, price proportional to distance | Mandatory | 75% of the actual fare at most |
| Other public transport, fixed price | Mandatory | 71.8% of the actual price, with one limit: your contribution need not exceed what a 7-kilometre train journey would cost |
| Bicycle | Mandatory | CLA 164, where there is no sectoral agreement |
| Car or own means of transport | Not mandatory | Unless a sectoral or company agreement applies |
For train travel, special arrangements remain, notably for free second-class rail passes. If that concerns you, the exact percentages are on the FPS Employment page referenced above.
The condition of a minimum distance of 5 kilometres for public transport has since been removed. A short journey therefore also opens the right to a contribution.
The private car is the only mode where you owe nothing by default. If you do choose to contribute, or if your sector requires it, the tax treatment differs from that of the bicycle. Do not confuse that ground with the company car, which follows its own rules.
Homeworking changes the volume, not the principle: days worked at home generate no journey and therefore no allowance, but they may open other homeworking allowances.
What does it really cost?
Far less than an equivalent gross amount, and that is the whole point. The bicycle allowance escapes social security contributions and tax as long as it stays under the ceiling. A euro of allowance costs you one euro, whereas a euro net paid through salary costs you a good deal more.
The exempt ceiling, and the margin worth using
Since 1 January 2026 the exempt amount has risen from €0.36 to €0.37 per kilometre. Does that mean you should stick to the €0.30 of the obligation? Nothing forces you to: between the amount owed and the exempt ceiling there remains €0.07 per kilometre you can pay on top without a cent of contributions or withholding tax.
The exemption is also capped annually, at €3,700 for 2026. Above that, the excess is subject to social security contributions and payroll withholding tax, with the NSSO applying the same ceiling as the tax authorities.
A second, less well-known ceiling explains differences of a few euros: the one used to calculate the payroll withholding tax deducted each month is slightly lower, at €3,690 (Securex, accessed 31 August 2026). The difference is settled when the final tax is calculated. So if your payroll office shows one figure or the other, that is not necessarily an error.
The definitive exemption, finally, applies to workers who use the statutory flat rate for professional expenses in their tax return. A worker who declares actual expenses falls under different treatment.
The calculation over a full year
Take a worker who lives 12 kilometres from the workplace and cycles in 4 days a week, so roughly 180 days a year.
- Daily return distance: 24 km, below the 40 km ceiling
- Daily allowance at the mandatory amount, 24 km at €0.30: €7.20
- Over 180 days: €1,296 per year
- Cost in NSSO employer contributions: €0
- Cost in payroll withholding tax: €0
- Actual cost to the employer: €1,296, exactly the amount paid out
If you raise the allowance to the exempt maximum of €0.37, that same worker receives €8.88 a day, or €1,598.40 over the year. The additional €302.40 remains fully exempt, and both figures stay well below the annual cap. Delivering the same net gain through salary, by contrast, would require a noticeably higher gross, employer contributions and withholding tax included, as the calculation of total labour cost shows.
It is the same logic as with meal vouchers: a benefit with favourable social treatment costs less than a pay rise at equal purchasing power.
Does the tax credit still exist?
Yes, but it is living its final months. The government introduced a temporary compensation for employers, the tax credit for a voluntary increase in the bicycle allowance, to absorb the rises in cycling mileage allowances. It covers journeys made between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2026, paid by 31 December 2027 at the latest.
In other words, 2026 is the last year of covered journeys. If you increased your bicycle allowance during that period and have not yet looked at this credit, now is the moment: the window is closing.
The scheme compensates increases, not the basic allowance. It therefore targets employers who had to raise their amount to comply with the general obligation. It also assumes the increase is provided for in a collective agreement, the work regulations or the individual employment contract, and agreed for an indefinite period. There is also a second credit, the one granted for the generalised bicycle allowance under CLA 164, and the two cannot be combined. If you already receive the credit for the generalised allowance, the one for a voluntary increase only applies to what you pay on top (Securex, accessed 31 August 2026).
What about part-timers and temporary workers?
The allowance is calculated on the journeys actually made, not on a monthly flat rate. Do you have to pro-rate for a part-timer? No, and that is simpler: a worker who comes in three days a week receives the allowance for those three days. The number of journeys drives the calculation, the working pattern does not come into it.
For an agency worker or a payrolled employee, the obligation rests on the legal employer, the one who pays the wages. As with the rest of payroll, the operator applies the amount, and it is the user's Joint Committee that determines which agreement applies.
If you host flexible staff, the applicable agreement depends on the sector where the worker performs the work, not on the operator's sector. A sectoral amount more favourable than CLA 164 therefore has to be followed. It is the same principle as for pay, where the hourly rate follows the user's Joint Committee.
The practical difficulty lies in recording the journeys. Without reliable registration of attendance days, the allowance ends up being estimated, and an estimated calculation is hard to defend.
What employers should remember
- The bicycle allowance is owed, not given. CLA 164 has generalised it since 1 May 2023 for every employer not covered by a sectoral or company agreement.
- €0.30 per kilometre in 2026, for a maximum of 40 kilometres per day, with the amount indexed every 1 January.
- Check your Joint Committee first. CLA 164 is supplementary: a sectoral agreement takes precedence, and it may set an amount above or below it.
- The exemption runs to €0.37 per kilometre, within a limit of €3,700 per year. The €0.07 gap with the obligation is a benefit at no contribution cost.
- Train and public transport are mandatory, the private car is not, unless an agreement says otherwise.
- The tax credit is ending: it covers journeys up to 31 December 2026, paid by the end of 2027 at the latest.
How Recruit helps you
A miscalculated bicycle allowance means a correction going back twelve months and an awkward conversation. At Recruit the calculation follows the journeys actually recorded, within the agreement that applies to your sector.
With Recruit:
- Accurate payroll - Bicycle allowance applied at your Joint Committee's amount, indexation tracked
- Centralised time registration - Attendance days serve as the basis for the calculation, not an estimate
- Exempt treatment under control - NSSO and tax ceilings applied automatically
- Dimona and social documents - Immediate employment declaration and supporting documents kept
- Personal support 24/7 - A dedicated contact who knows your file and your sector
Try Recruit or contact our HR experts for tailored advice.
Frequently asked questions
Must I pay if my sector already has an agreement?
You then apply your sector's agreement rather than CLA 164. The latter is supplementary: it fills a gap, it does not replace an existing text. Check the sectoral amount before you calculate, because it may sit above or below €0.30 per kilometre.
Does an electric bike qualify for the allowance?
Yes. The ordinary bicycle opens the right to the allowance, as do the motorised cycle and the speed pedelec, provided those last two are electrically powered. The type of cycle changes neither the amount nor the kilometre ceiling.
May I pay more than the mandatory amount?
Yes, and it is often worthwhile. Up to €0.37 per kilometre in 2026, the allowance stays exempt from social security contributions and payroll withholding tax. Above that ceiling, the excess becomes subject to both.
How do I prove the journeys made?
With a record of the days on which the worker cycled in, kept up regularly. The allowance is calculated on actual journeys, not on a flat rate: without a record, the amount paid is hard to justify during an inspection, in either direction.
Is a homeworking employee entitled to it?
For days worked at home there is no journey, so no bicycle allowance. For the days they cycle to the workplace, the allowance is simply owed. The two arrangements combine on different days, never on the same day.
Who pays for an agency worker, the agency or the company?
The legal employer, so the agency or the payroll operator who pays the wages. The applicable agreement, however, is that of the user company's Joint Committee, which may produce a different amount from CLA 164.
The information in this article is provided for general guidance only and does not replace professional legal advice. Labour legislation changes regularly. Always consult the legislation in force or contact an HR expert for advice suited to your situation.