Commuting allowance is combined with a home-work allowance
At the RUG, in consultation with the unions, it was decided to apply the CLA in such a way that staff members receive a homeworking allowance of EUR 2 per day for 2 days a week.
A commuting allowance and/or a fiscal allowance is then paid for the other three days; provided you qualify for this (please see below for more information).
Payment is based on the work schedule. Part-timers therefore do not receive an allowance on days on which they do not work.
Note: if your work predominantly involves working in the RUG buildings and you are therefore entitled to more days of travel expenses, adjust your work schedule accordingly.
Commuting Allowance Regulation
Not all staff members are eligible for a commuting allowance. Only people who live more than 15 kilometers and less than 40 kilometers from the workplace receive an allowance of 4 cents per kilometer.
However, all staff may take part in the Fiscal Travel Allowance scheme, please see below
All details are explained on MyUniversity (access only for RUG employees).
Fiscal Travel Allowance Regulation
Every staff member can make use of the Fiscal Travel Allowance Scheme, even if there is a small distance between home and work. There is no minimum distance, but there is a maximum distance of 150 km per day. The reimbursement is irrespective of the means of transport used. Even if you receive a ‘regular’ commuting allowance, you can still make use of this scheme.
Simply put, you may reimburse yourself 19 cents per kilometer from your gross salary. This provides – depending on your income – a tax benefit of 35 – 45%.
A few calculation examples: if you travel 3 days a week 5 kilometers one way from your home to work (then you travel 30 km total per week), the tax allowance is 30 km x 0.19 = 5.70 Euro.
If you pay 35% tax on your salary then this saves you about 2 Euros per week in tax. At 40 working weeks per year that is 80 Euros ‘earned’.
If the one-way journey is 14 kilometers then the allowance is almost 20 Euros per week, the tax benefit is then 5.60 Euros; on an annual basis 223 Euros ‘earned’.
See further information on MyUniversity (access only for RUG employees).
Please note: your gross annual income will be lower when this scheme is applied.
This will affect the amount of your pension, because less pension premium will be deducted (both the employee’s and the employer’s share).
The reduction of your gross income can also have consequences if you become ill for a long time or end up in a benefit situation for some other reason (WIA, WAO or WW/BW benefit).
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)