Coronavirus: NSSO – extended grant of an office allowance

What allowance can you grant your employees who, as a result of the government measures for Covid-19, will work completely from home for some time?

Office allowance

The NSSO expands the possibility of granting your teleworkers an office allowance as an expenses allowance.

This office allowance of 126.94 EUR per month, which covers the cost of heating, electricity, small office equipment... can be granted without social security contributions to all employees who work from home, even to employees who did not work from home before the Covid-19 measures and for whom you have not concluded a formal teleworking contract.

Allowance for professional use by the employee of his own equipment

In addition to this allowance, you may also reimburse the following costs:

• Use of the employee’s own computer: a fixed amount of up to 20 EUR per month is accepted
• Use of the employee’s own Internet connection: a fixed amount of up to 20 EUR per month is accepted

If the employee has to pay other expenses (use of his own phone, purchase of a screen or scanner...), you may also reimburse these. There is no fixed amount for this, the reimbursement must be based on the actual costs.

Remark

If, prior to the Covid-19 measures, you reimbursed the costs of your teleworkers on the basis of 10% of the gross wage for working from home as stipulated in the teleworking contract, you may continue to pay this reimbursement according to the same principle that goes for the pro rata as stipulated in the teleworking contract (e.g. 10% of 2/5th of the monthly wage if 2 days of teleworking has been stipulated in the contract).

An allowance of 10 % of the total gross wage cannot therefore be accepted for employees who temporarily work entirely from home under the Covid-19 measures and who are not in a homeworking situation as provided for in Title VI of the Employment Contracts Act of 3 July 1978, nor in a teleworking situation in the proper sense of the word.

An allowance of 126.94 EUR may be granted instead of the 10 % pro rata of the monthly wage, should this amount be lower.

Refer to our Infoflash of 20 March 2020 on the tax regime of the teleworking allowance.

Source: www.socialsecurity.be