Business Expense Compliance in Belgium
Stay up to date with rules and regulations on digital expense management in Belgium.
Last updated in January 2024.
Trusted by 1000+ innovators and finance leaders worldwide
Rules and Regulations in Belgium
Discover guidelines on VAT rates, proof of payment & mileage allowance in Belgium.
Paperless Proof of Payment
According to the Belgian government, companies must retain all transactional documents for FPS Finance for 10 years, starting from January 1st of the year following the award date.
Organizations can keep the paper or electronic versions, regardless of the original format. The digital archiving of paper receipts is recognized and legally valid, provided that companies can ensure the integrity and authenticity of the scanned receipts.
For VAT purposes, companies can choose where to keep their receipts and invoices as long as they can submit them to the FPS Finance at any request and without delay.
Companies can use digital expense solutions if they comply with the Belgian archiving obligations.
Digital Proof of Payment with Klippa SpendControl
Klippa SpendControl allows employees to take pictures of the receipts and invoices or upload e-documents via email, web or mobile app.
Our user-friendly software extracts relevant document fields with 99% accuracy using Optical Character Recognition and automatically uploads data to your system.
Once submitted, authorized personnel can immediately review and approve transactions. The processed and approved data can then be booked to your accounting or ERP system using Klippa’s 20+ direct integration options.
Klippa stores all archived data for a minimum of 10 years. That way, your transactional documents are always accessible for audits and tax authorities.
VAT Rates
The Belgian government applies VAT rates based on the European Union’s VAT Directive. There are four VAT tariffs relevant to business expense management:
Please refer to the Taxation and Customs Union for a complete list of taxable and exempted goods and services.
Automated VAT Rate Extraction with Klippa SpendControl
Klippa SpendControl automatically recognizes and extracts Belgian VAT rates from all document types and uploads them to your system.
Additionally, our solution allows users to add relevant VAT rates based on company needs. Once extracted, users can book the data into their preferred accounting or ERP system.
Mileage Allowance
In Belgium, business travel expenses are not taxable, given that the number of kilometers traveled doesn’t exceed 24,000 km per year.
Companies can reimburse business-related trips based on the total costs incurred or using the official fixed rate per driven kilometer.
Commuting to work: Home-work travel is the journey employees make between home and the fixed place of work.
If employees travel from home to work by car, mixed car, minibus or motorbike, the allowance is set at a flat rate of 0.15 euros per km.
If employees travel by bicycle the following rates apply:
If a company reimburses, totally or partially, a bus, metro or train subscription, this compensation is entirely exempt from tax.
For all types of transportation, the distance between home and work cannot exceed 100 km for a single journey.
Business trips: Car expenses incurred for business travel (other than home-work travel) are deductible as business expenses.
Mileage allowances cover the travel cost for business trips when using a private vehicle based on the quarterly rates:
Companies must be able to provide invoices, notes, or receipts stating the number of kilometers and car expenses.
Automated Mileage Tracking with Klippa SpendControl
Klippa SpendControl allows users to easily track and reimburse mileage expenses with the Google Maps integration.
Employees simply pick the starting and ending points of the trip, while our solution calculates distance based on the fastest route and applies a set rate.
After an expense claim is submitted, SpendControl can apply custom compensation rules, such as allowances per kilometer, based on specific users, administration, or category, and then route the data for approval to the authorized personnel.
Klippa stores all data for a minimum of 10 years, ensuring that companies can access mileage records to easily and accurately reimburse employees when necessary.
Read About Compliance in Other Countries
Discover how to comply with national regulations on per diems, mileage allowance, VAT rates, proof of payment and more.
Join 1000+ Finance Teams in Carefree Spend Management
Klippa allows us to digitally register, approve, and process expenses and invoices in one user-friendly cloud environment.
With Klippa, colleagues can focus on key tasks as workload and manual processes are greatly reduced, achieving an ROI of 60–80%.
Employees can now submit their claims directly via the app. Managers approve them, and finance ensures proper receipt allocation.
We Take Your Data Privacy & Security Seriously
Get Started Now!
Our experts are looking forward to showing you what Klippa SpendControl can do for your business.