The Federal Mobility Budget: How to Make It Practical, Fair, and Easy to Manage
The federal mobility budget is a legal framework designed to give employees a flexible alternative to the traditional company car. It allows those who want to give up their car—or opt for a smaller, more cost-effective one—to reallocate their budget toward sustainable and personalized mobility options.
The real challenge is: how do you make it work in a way that is practical, fair, and easy to manage? At Vaigo, we’ve seen firsthand the struggles HR teams face when implementing mobility policies. We believe the key is simplicity with impact.
A Clear Preference: Forfaitary-Based Budget Calculation
Let’s be real—no one wants to spend hours calculating individual mobility budgets based on historical TCO data. That’s why we advocate for the forfaitary-based calculation method. It’s predictable, easy to apply, and significantly reduces administrative headaches.
Formula for the forfaitary-based budget calculation:
🔹 Leased or rented vehicles: Annual leasing or rental cost is taken as the base.
🔹 Variable component: Estimated fuel or electricity costs, calculated as follows:
• Private use: Fixed at 6,000 km/year.
• Commute: (Home-to-work distance × 2) × 200 working days/year.
• Cost per km: 30% of the official mileage allowance (e.g., €0.4320/km in Q2 2025 → ~€0.1296/km).
This method keeps things straightforward and transparent, ensuring employees have a fair mobility budget without endless recalculations.
Encouraging Conscious Car Usage with Real Costs in Pillar 1
While we advocate for a simplified budget calculation, we strongly believe that real costs should be applied within Pillar 1. This means that when employees opt for a company car, their actual lease cost, charging infrastructure, and charging expenses should be deducted from their budget. Why?
🚗 Encourages responsible car use – Employees become aware of the true cost of driving, fostering a shift toward more sustainable behavior.
⚡ Supports EV adoption – Including home charging stations and charging costs in the budget ensures that the transition to electric vehicles is smooth and attractive.
🏢 Avoids over-subsidization – A flat-rate deduction could lead to unintended benefits for heavy car users.
By making employees accountable for their actual mobility expenses, companies promote smarter mobility choices without unnecessary complexity.
This methodology works best for companies with a fleet primarily consisting of salary cars or non-sales profiles.
For companies with many sales reps, consultants, or employees who need to be on-site regularly, a forfaitary approach may be the only viable option. At the moment, Belgian regulations require companies to choose one system for all employees—a key consideration when structuring your mobility policy.
Housing Costs: A Delicate Balance
One of the most debated aspects of the federal mobility budget is the eligibility of housing costs (mortgage or rent). The law currently allows employees to use their budget for housing if they live within 10km of their workplace. However, as an HR team, you may choose to allow this benefit for employees who work from home more than 50% of the time.
At Vaigo, we recommend being very deliberate and cautious when applying this rule. Once employees start receiving housing reimbursements based on remote work, it’s extremely difficult to roll that back.
🏡 What if you want to move back to 60% or more office presence?
That’s going to be a tough conversation with employees who have become used to having part of their housing reimbursed.
📍 Clarity & fairness – The 10km rule is simple and objective. It avoids subjective debates about homeworking ratios and long-term intentions.
🚀 Encouraging true proximity – The original goal was to reduce commuting by encouraging people to live close to their work—not to permanently fund remote workers’ rent.
While we support flexibility in mobility design, housing cost eligibility should be implemented with long-term consistency in mind.
The Daily Challenges of Managing a Mobility Budget
Even with the right structure in place, HR and payroll teams face real-world complications when implementing the mobility budget. Some of the most common challenges include:
🔄 Changing personal situations – Employees move houses, requiring a reassessment of housing cost eligibility.
📈 Promotions & role changes – As employees move up the career ladder or shift roles, their mobility budget or company car eligibility changes.
🚉 Multiple mobility rights – Many employees already benefit from train passes, bike leases, or fuel cards. Should these be deducted from the mobility budget, or should they remain separate?
Additionally, employees submit a wide range of expenses—from a bike purchase at Decathlon to a rented car in Spain, or even rent/mortgage reimbursements. This requires strict control mechanisms to ensure fair use and compliance.
A clear policy framework is essential to maintain fairness and efficiency in daily mobility budget management.
Why You Need a Mobility Platform
All of the above sounds complex—because it is.
That’s why it’s essential to work with a mobility platform that automates the entire administration process:
- Automated calculation of budgets (forfait or real)
- Seamless document signing and policy workflows
- Real-time integration of car costs, charging data, and TCO
- Eligibility checks for housing costs and other expenses
- Clear expense review flows and automated compliance checks
A tool like Vaigo takes care of all the complexity in the background, so HR and payroll can focus on people, not paperwork.
Final Thoughts: A Realistic and Fair Mobility Budget
The federal mobility budget holds enormous potential, but it must be implemented wisely. At Vaigo, we believe in:
✔️ Forfaitary-based budget calculation to reduce administrative burdens.
✔️ Real costs in Pillar 1 to drive responsible car usage.
✔️ A strict 10km housing rule to maintain clarity and fairness.
✔️ Smart automation through a dedicated platform to make it all work at scale.
By striking the right balance between simplicity, fairness, and sustainability, companies can empower employees with real mobility choices while keeping HR management efficient and future-proof.
Roeland Vanrenterghem, CEO Vaigo | Mobility Policy Expert
With years of experience in corporate mobility, Roeland has seen and analyzed hundreds of policies that influence employee commuting behavior. As CEO of Vaigo, he helps large enterprises simplify and manage those mobility policies, making sustainable choices effortless for both HR teams and employees.
