Bye Bye Buy. Hello lease.

Absolutely! The bike plan has recently become fiscally lucrative for self-employed people too. The monthly lease amount is a business expense. These costs and expenses result in a lower profit. This in turn provides a tax advantage.

Take the e-bike: the average purchase price nowadays is around € 3,000. With a bike plan, you pay this amount divided into monthly amounts. This leaves more room for other investments.

You can easily combine the untaxed allowance per kilometer with the lease bike. This is how it works:

You are not entitled to the untaxed kilometer compensation for commuter kilometers with the lease bike. But for the kilometers you travel by other means of transportation - such as your own car or public transport - you may continue to pay the kilometer compensation.

Example:

Before the bike plan, you commuted to work five days a week in your own car. You received a kilometer allowance for this. Now that you have a leased bicycle, you cycle to work two days a week and three days a week by private car. This means that you can continue to receive an allowance per kilometer for three days a week.

First you add 7% of the retail price of the bicycle to your income. Then other costs are deducted from this.

Example:

Suppose the new price of the chosen bicycle is € 2,500 and the yearly addition is € 175. If you divide this amount by 12 (months), you arrive at € 14.58 of addition per month. You add this amount to your gross income. This means that each month tax is also paid on this amount. If you then calculate this again, that extra tax comes down to about € 5 per month.

Yes, as a director-major shareholder, you are also legally allowed to use the business lease bike scheme. The application process works the same as for a self-employed person and an employer. Through this link, you can sign up easily and free of charge with your own entity. The monthly lease amount can be offset against any salary or included as a business expense. The advantage is that less tax is paid on wages or profits.

Indeed, as a self-employed person, you also have the option to purchase a bicycle on your business. In the case of a business purchase, the bicycle is counted as business assets and appears on the balance sheet (from €450 purchase value). The tax advantage of buying vs. leasing is, in most cases, the same. For the following reasons, self-employed people choose to lease a bicycle on a business basis instead of buying it on a business basis:

Insurance, maintenance and 24/7 roadside assistance are included

No mandatory 10% mileage registration as with a business purchase and therefore no administration since with leasing you pay 7% additional tax on private use

You pay in installments, so you do not have to make a large investment

With leasing you have the freedom to take over the bike after 3 years, stop using the bike and/or switch to a new type or brand of bike

Absolutely! It is also interesting for self-employed people to get a lease bicycle. Would you like to know more? Click here for more information or send your question to us via the contact form.

To support you throughout the journey, we have developed a digital platform that you can use for free. Here you can manage all processes and let all parties (the company you work for, all employees and the bicycle store) come together to arrange everything. The administration is also a breeze: you can arrange most things with one push of a button. Of course we are always there for you if you have any questions about the platform, so that you can enter the leaseplan without any worries.

You can register your business via our website in just five minutes. Once we receive your registration, we will run a credit check. We'll get back to you with the response within two business days. After approval you will receive the terms and conditions, which can be signed digitally. Then you get access to our online platform, activate your account and automatically receive the Lease a Bike order code to choose your bike at the local bike store.

The lease runs for 36 months.

After 36 months, you’ll get the option to take over the leased bike from us for about 15% of the purchase price.