Your payroll administration in Q3 – 2020
1. Changes regarding mileage allowance
An employer may grant a lump-sum mileage allowance to his employees who use their own car, motorcycle or moped for professional travel. As from 1 July 2020 up to and including 30 June 2021, a new amount is applicable that is lower than last year, i.e. 0.3542 EUR per kilometre.
Employers are currently only obligated to contribute to the costs incurred for commuting by public transport when the employee travels more than 5 kilometres. As from 1 July 2020, this limit will be removed and an employer’s contribution will be due from the first kilometre.
As from 1 July 2020, in J.C. 200, the employer will be obligated to grant a lump-sum mileage allowance of 0.10 EUR for commuting by bicycle, with an absolute maximum of 4 EUR per day.
2. Additional support measures corona crisis announced
The super core announced some additional support measures on 6 and 12 June 2020. All information on these support measures is not yet known as they still need to be regulated. The information below is therefore based on draft texts. The content of the measures may therefore still change:
- Corona unemployment
The corona unemployment was officially extended until 31 August 2020 under the current conditions. The only additional formality is the obligation to report the days of unemployment to the employee.For ‘sectors in difficulty’, the corona unemployment would be extended up to and including 31 December 2020 under the current conditions.As from 1 September 2020 up to and including 31 December 2020, the other sectors would be able to invoke a more relaxed form of temporary unemployment for economic reasons provided that a 10% loss of turnover can be proven. - Consumption voucher
The consumption voucher is a voucher of a maximum amount of 300 EUR which an employer can grant to his employees. The granting of the voucher must be done in a company-level collective labour agreement or individual agreement. It is likely that a number of sectors will make the granting of this voucher compulsory.The voucher can be used in the hotel and catering sector as well as in the cultural and sports sector. Provided a number of conditions are met, this voucher will be exempt from social security contributions and taxes.In order to be able to rotate the voucher quickly, it will only be available in paper form. The voucher can be purchased from businesses where it can be spent or from suppliers who already provide other types of vouchers (such as meal vouchers and eco vouchers). - Partial exemption from payment wage withholding tax for June, July and August 2020
Employers who have used at least one consecutive month of corona unemployment between 12 March and 31 May 2020 are eligible. The exemption is equal to 50% of the difference between the wage withholding tax for the month of June, July or August 2020 on the one hand and the wage withholding tax for the month of May 2020 on the other hand. - Working time reduction
Companies recognised as being in difficulty or undergoing restructuring before 01/01/2021 may reduce the working time in order to avoid dismissals. This can be done by means of a collective working time reduction, by granting a time credit or by granting an ‘end-of-career’ time credit of which the access to the benefit will be lowered from 57 years to 55 years. - Corona parental leave
The corona parental leave will be extended up to and including 30 September 2020. In addition, single parents or parents of a child with a disability will have the possibility of full time parental leave and will be entitled to an increased benefit.
3. New equivalences in maternity rest
The days of incapacity for work, temporary unemployment and suspension from work on full pay that have occurred since 1 March 2020 during the optional prenatal maternity leave may be transferred to the postnatal maternity leave.
4. Agreements annual leave
Ski holidays or sun holidays were not an option due to the “lockdown” and the closed borders. Many employees still have a lot of days of annual leave left. Here are a few tips you can use when making annual leave agreements:
- Earlier made collective agreements regarding annual leave remain valid.
As an employer, you cannot change this unilaterally. - When drawing up an annual leave policy, take into account the legal principles.
For example, the transfer of statutory holidays and working time reduction days to the next calendar year is in principle prohibited and a continuous period of leave must be guaranteed. - Have the (planned) days of leave registered.
This gives you an overview of the days of leave taken or to be taken at any time. - Negotiate with individual employees about taking annual leave.
A solution that both parties can agree with is an added value. Inform them of the company’s needs. - Investigate the possibility of career savings.
This way, the employee can save up its extra-legal days of leave in order to take them at another time.
5. Points of attention regarding cross-border employment
Do you have employees who work across borders? Has their work pattern or their usual workplace changed since the corona crisis? It is best to proceed as follows:
- Document which days were worked in which country. Indicate the days when there was a deviation from the planned country of work due to the corona crisis.
- Draw up an employer’s statement for the remaining working days of this year in which you clearly explain for which days the planned country of work will be deviated from due to the corona crisis.
- Check whether the changed employment situation may become permanent.
- We will then be happy to help you map out the possible tax and social security consequences of the changed employment situation for the employees concerned, make calculations and analyse whether these consequences can still be adjusted.
Publication date: 1 July 2020