There was no golden carriage, no waving from the balcony, no pomp and circumstance. However, yesterday was indeed Budget Day in the Netherlands — and though you might not have noticed the ceremony, you’ll definitely notice what it’ll do to your paycheck.
Namely, the fact that Dutch government has (finally!) factored hybrid working into the new Tax Plan for 2022. So, people who continue to work from home can receive €2 per day, tax-free, to cover their extra costs, reports the NOS. 🥳
Long-awaited
Is this the most stingy thing we’ve seen Dutch people do? Perhaps!
After one and a half years of complaining about the extra costs of electricity, gas, toilet paper, and the lack of shitty office coffees, the Dutch finally won their work from home compensation.
Moral of the story: complain long enough and you’ll get what you want? 👀
The employers’ association AWNB is expecting a lot of enthusiasm for the new scheme. “We expect that many employers will give a home-work allowance. The administrative burden will not be too bad, because many employers nowadays also have an automated system for how many days people work at home or at the office,” they told the NOS.
But too late?
According to the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV), €2 should be enough to cover the additional costs of water, electricity, heating, coffee, tea and toilet paper when working from home.
But although collective labour agreements have now been made for the tax-free work from home compensation, not everyone will benefit.
The FNV highlights that it’s mainly the government, financial, and IT sectors that’ll benefit from the new Tax Plan. Many other sectors are already sending their employees back to the office — without any compensation.
People on Twitter also picked up on this:
Choose between tax free work from home or travel allowance
For a person who works from home full time, the new allowance will mean receiving just under €500 net per year.
People who work partly from home and partly from the office must make agreements with their employer about which days they’ll receive the work from home allowance and which days they’ll receive a travel allowance. The two cannot be combined in one day. 🤷♀️
What do you think of a tax-free work from home allowance? Tell us in the comments below!
Feature Image: Girtss/Depositphotos
What we want now, is the flexibility to be or not be in the NL to work, when work from home remains the rule for the majority of week days. Why, you ask, isn’t Amsterdam a lovely city ? It sure is… But at what living cost?? Housing crisis and ongoing protests… Maybe spend more time on this topic, huh, what d’you think??