In 2017, you must value a (canteen) meal provided to an employee at € 3,30 (in 2016: €3.25). You can read about this in the appendix to the Payroll Tax Newsletter 2017.
Meals
The valuation standard of €3.30 per meal applies only if the meal is not more than of a minor business nature. In our article Tax-free food and drink Find out how you can optimise the tax treatment of allowances and the provision of food and drink to employees.
Deductible allowance (optimise your WKR)
We assume that you have already implemented the work-related expenses scheme (WKR) for your business for 2016, optimised. You can do this by classifying the allowances and benefits in kind paid to your employees, as far as possible, under the specific exemptions, intermediary costs and zero-valuation rules.
In addition, you should try to make use of the available allowance. This allowance is the same in 2017 as it was in 2016: 1.2% of the wage bill.
Mileage allowance
The amount of the tax-free allowance for business mileage and commuting has not been adjusted. It remains unchanged at € 0,19 per kilometre. This amount is deemed to cover all costs, including, for example, the costs incurred during business journeys for parking, tolls and ferry fares.
We recently made notification attempts to increase this amount to €0.22 per kilometre.
New tax rules for company cars will apply from 2017, with a transitional arrangement. You can find these new rules in our factsheet.
Volunteer scheme
The standards of the volunteer scheme remain unchanged. The tax-free volunteer allowance may not exceed: €150 per month and €1,500 per year. These are the thresholds for payroll tax. PLEASE NOTE: lower thresholds apply in the context of social assistance.
With regard to the volunteer scheme, too, the persistent calls from politicians for it to be relaxed have gone unheeded.
Salary increase for a director and major shareholder
The director and majority shareholder (DGA) must ensure that his or her private limited company pays him or her at least 75% of the customary salary. The DGA’s salary in 2017 must amount to at least: € 45.000 (in the years 2014 to 2016 inclusive: €44,000). A director and major shareholder whose salary is equal to the minimum required customary salary must therefore grant themselves a salary increase of €1,000 for 2017.
For start-ups, the minimum customary wage may, with effect from 2017, be equal to the statutory minimum wage. The start-up must then hold an R&D declaration, be entitled to the increased start-up rate and not exceed the de minimis ceiling for state aid under the European Treaty.
30% control
The income threshold for the 30% scheme has been raised. For 2017, it is: € 37.000. For employees under the age of 30, a lower threshold of €28,125 applies (in 2016: €36,889 and €28,041).
Under the 30% scheme, employees who are temporarily posted abroad or who come to work in the Netherlands on a temporary basis (expats) may receive 30% of their gross remuneration tax-free as an allowance for extraterritorial expenses. This allowance is specifically exempt and is therefore not counted against the WKR’s discretionary allowance.