Transport
Private car, motorcycle or bicycle
If you travel for business using your own vehicle, which is not part of your business assets, in 2026 you can deduct € 0,25 for each business kilometre.
- Fuel, insurance, maintenance, parking and toll roads are already included in these € 0,25. You cannot deduct them separately.
- For income tax, trips from home to your regular workplace or a client’s site also count as business trips, so you can include them.
- Keep a record of your trips: date, route, distance and purpose.
If the car is part of your business assets, different rules apply: actual costs and depreciation are deductible, but bijtelling is added for private use.
Public transport, taxis and planes
Business trips by train, bus, tram, metro, taxi or plane are deductible at their actual cost, usually in full. Keep tickets, invoices and proof of payment. If you use an OV-chipkaart or bank card, download your travel history regularly and mark which trips were for business.
Rental cars
- A car rented in your business’s name specifically for a business trip: the business portion of the rental and related costs (fuel, parking) is deductible. If you also used it for personal trips, you need to split the costs.
- A car rented privately and used for work: you can deduct € 0,25 per business kilometre.
Hotels and meals
Hotels
If an overnight stay is needed to work with a client, on a project or during another business activity, you can usually deduct the full cost. The costs must be reasonable and genuinely related to your business. An extra night to explore the city, or costs for a partner who travelled with you but had no business role, are private expenses.
There are limits for overnight stays related to a conference, seminar or study trip (see below).
Meals
- Your own meals are a private expense, even during a business trip.
- A business lunch or dinner with a client or business contact has a business purpose, but only part of the cost is deductible. You must be able to show who you met and why.
Conferences, seminars and study trips
Expenses for conferences, seminars and study trips are only partly deductible. They consist of two parts, with different rules for each:
- Attendance (ticket, registration fee): there is no limit, and the amount goes straight to step 2.
- Travel and accommodation: these are first subject to a limit (step 1), and then also go to step 2.
- € 1.500 limit on travel and accommodation. You can count a maximum of € 1.500 per year for travel and accommodation related to these events. The limit does not apply if your presence was necessary for your work, for example if you were speaking or the training is compulsory for your profession.
- The 80% rule or the € 5.700 threshold. The attendance costs and the travel and accommodation costs (after step 1) are added to other expenses that are only partly deductible, such as business meals. You then deduct the total using one of these two methods:
- € 5.700 threshold. Only the part of these expenses for the year that exceeds € 5.700 is deductible.
- The 80% rule. You can deduct 80% of all expenses in this group.
For most zzp’ers, the 80% rule is more beneficial.
Workation: work and leisure combined
A workation is a grey area, so it is worth being especially careful. The main question is: would you have gone there if there had been no work involved? If the main purpose of the trip is leisure and you worked between visits to the beach and sightseeing, your flights and accommodation remain private expenses. Opening your laptop does not change that.
If, however, the trip took place because of work (a client meeting, a project or a trade fair), its main costs are business expenses. They do not become private just because you stayed for a few extra days.
What you can and cannot deduct:
- Business: costs that arose only because of work. For example, a ticket to a trade fair, nights when you worked on a project, or renting a coworking space.
- Private: days off you added to the trip, entertainment, meals without a business purpose, and costs for a partner or children if they do not work in your business.
- Mixed: if a cost relates to both work and leisure, split it proportionally and write down how you worked it out.
BTW on business trips
The rules for BTW often differ from the rules for income tax.
- Hotels. If the overnight stay is for business, you can reclaim the BTW on it in your return.
- Food and drinks in restaurants and cafés. You usually cannot reclaim the BTW on these, even if it was a business lunch.
- Foreign BTW. VAT paid in another EU country is not included in your Dutch return.
Which documents to keep
It is important to show not only that you incurred an expense, but also that it was for business.
- Invoices and tickets: hotel invoices, tickets, conference invoices and proof of payment. If possible, have them issued to the company.
- Business purpose: proof of an order, a client’s email, a calendar entry or the conference programme.
- Mileage records: the date, route, distance and purpose of every business trip.
- Business and private split: for a workation or mixed trip, write down exactly how you divided the costs.
Keep all these records for at least 7 years.