MilesheetThe Dutch allowance rises to 23 cents, and what untaxed actually means
One flat figure, no threshold, and the same number whether you are employed or self-employed. The Netherlands has the simplest system in Europe and the narrowest safety net.
Update, July 2026: the Dutch figure rose again, from 23 cents to 25 cents a kilometre, backdated to 1 January 2026. This post describes the position as it stood when it was written.
Update, April 2026: the UK approved rate for cars and vans rose from 45p to 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles. The 25p rate above that, and the 5p passenger payment, are unchanged.
From 1 January 2024 the Dutch untaxed travel allowance is 23 cents a kilometre, up from the figure that applied through 2023.
What untaxed means here
The Dutch mechanism is a payroll one. Your employer may pay you up to the figure per business kilometre without deducting tax or social contributions. Pay above it and the excess is treated as salary.
So the number is a ceiling on tax free reimbursement, not an entitlement. An employer who pays less is not breaking any rule, and an employer who pays nothing is not either. What the figure governs is the tax treatment of whatever they do pay.
The same figure serves as the per kilometre deduction for the self employed using a private vehicle for business, which is a tidiness other systems do not manage. In Britain the employee and the sole trader arrive at 45p by two different routes with different names.
No threshold, no banding
There is no Dutch equivalent of the 10,000 mile line. Every business kilometre is worth the same, all year.
This makes the Dutch log the simplest of any system covered here. You never need to know your running total to value a journey, the rate does not depend on your car, and the year boundary only decides which year's figure applies.
The trade is that a flat rate cannot be generous to everybody. It is set around an average, and a driver whose real costs are above average absorbs the difference with no mechanism to recover it.
The narrow safety net
This is the difference that matters most for anyone arriving from Britain.
If a British employer reimburses below the approved rate, the employee can claim the shortfall themselves through Mileage Allowance Relief, on a return or a P87. It is a genuine backstop, and it is why the British system is more generous to employees than the headline rate suggests.
The Netherlands has no direct equivalent. If your employer pays 15 cents against a ceiling of 23, the 8 cent gap is simply a cost you carry. The ceiling protects the tax treatment of what you are paid; it does not oblige anyone to pay it, and it does not let you reclaim the difference.
| Netherlands | UK | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 23 cents per km, flat | 45p per mile, then 25p |
| Threshold | None | 10,000 miles |
| Year | Calendar | From 6 April |
| Employed and self-employed | Same figure | Different routes to the same rate |
| Employee claims a shortfall | No | Yes, Mileage Allowance Relief |
| Passenger supplement | None | 5p per passenger mile |
Why the gap is worth logging anyway
Since there is no way to reclaim the shortfall, it is tempting to conclude there is no point measuring it. The opposite is true.
The gap between what a kilometre costs you and what you are reimbursed is the only number that tells you whether a job, a route or a car is worth what you are being paid for it. It is invisible unless something is recording both halves, and it is the number to take into a conversation about a raise or a change of vehicle.
Milesheet ships the Dutch scheme, so a driver on it sees kilometres, euros and the untaxed figure, and can set what their employer actually pays alongside it.
Sources
- Zakelijk gebruik privévervoermiddel (Belastingdienst)
- Maximale kilometervergoeding van uw werkgever (Rijksoverheid)
- Tax relief for employees: business mileage and fuel costs (HMRC), for the British comparison
General information for drivers in the Netherlands and the UK, not tax advice. The untaxed figure is revised: check the current amount with the Belastingdienst.
