Transport and travel costs

Transport and travel expenses paid by the employer to employees do not constitute part of their salary if they correspond to expenses actually incurred.

Fixed or consistent,

The amount of the remuneration component must not depend on the employer’s discretion. If the employer can arbitrarily vary the amount of remuneration from one moment to the next or from one employee to another, it will no longer be considered a salary supplement but a gratuity.

Otherwise, the remuneration component will be subject to social security contributions. However, the concept of fixedness must not be interpreted too rigidly, as it may be linked to percentage or rate-based elements where the actual amount may vary depending on cash flow (such as a balance sheet bonus or a performance bonus).

If the salary, bonus, allowance or benefit in kind does indeed meet these three (3) conditions, it must also be free from any intention on the part of the employer to make a gift and must be perceived by employees as a supplement to their salary.

According to these criteria, elements of remuneration corresponding to the basic salary are always subject to social security contributions.

The opposite is very often true for allowances that actually constitute reimbursement of expenses.

Permanence, continuity or regularity,

Compensation components must be paid regularly and at the same time to employees or to a homogeneous category within the company. Regularity or consistency is an essential element that removes any element of uncertainty from the payment, enabling the employee to incorporate the compensation component into their spending habits.

General application or uniformity.

Basic pay, bonuses, allowances and benefits must be paid to all employees or to a homogeneous category of employees (by role, by function, by age, etc.). In this case, the conditions for allocation are determined by collective agreements, company-level agreements and specific regulations, and not on the basis of the actual expenses incurred by each employee.

These consist of

• Subsistence allowances or per diems,
• Accommodation costs,
• Transport costs,
• Meal allowances…

As transport and travel expenses do not constitute income for the employee, they are not subject to ITS, INPS or CANAM contributions.

• They must not be included on the payslip,
• They must be treated as expenses for the employer.