Mileage allowance for freelancers 2026: €0.25 per km

How much mileage allowance can you deduct in 2026?

If the car is in your name and belongs to your private assets, you deduct €0.25 from your profit for each business kilometre. In 2024 and 2025 that was €0.23. The amount also covers a motorbike, scooter or bicycle that you own privately and use for business.

It is a fixed amount. All car costs are included: fuel, maintenance, insurance, road tax, tolls and parking. So you do not deduct them again on top. Not even if your car costs more per kilometre in reality.

Does commuting count as business travel for freelancers?

Yes. For income tax the trip from home to your fixed workplace counts as business. That is different from employees. If you drive to a business space or to the same client every day, those kilometres count too.

Private trips do not count: groceries, a birthday, a holiday. If you make a private detour on the way to a client, only the normal route is business.

Do you need to keep a mileage log?

You must be able to show how many business kilometres you drove. The Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) sets no fixed form for a private car, but without an overview you cannot support your deduction. Easiest is a list per trip:

• date
• departure and destination address
• the client or the purpose of the trip
• the number of kilometres
• the start and end reading of the odometer, if you have them

Keep that list with your accounts, just like your receipts. An app or a spreadsheet is enough, as long as the data are correct.

Worked example: how to calculate it

Fatima is a self-employed physiotherapist. In 2026 she drives 6,200 km to patients at home. Two days a week she drives to a practice room, 2,200 km in total. She leaves her private kilometres out.

Fatima deducts €2,100.00 from her profit. Her tax falls by part of that amount, depending on her rate. To work it out for yourself, use the mileage allowance calculator.

Private car or company car?

You can also put the car in the business. Then you book all real car costs as business costs, including depreciation. Against that, you must settle private use: the addition (bijtelling).

You pay no addition if you show that you drive no more than 500 km private per year. You prove that with a complete mileage log. The addition is never higher than what the car cost you, including depreciation. Different percentages apply to electric cars and older cars.

A company car often works out better if you drive a lot for business and the car is costly to run. If you drive little, or also a lot privately, the fixed amount per kilometre is usually simpler and cheaper. Work out both for your own situation.

Note. VAT is a separate story. For VAT, different rules apply to business use of a private car than for income tax. If in doubt, check the VAT pages of the Belastingdienst.