Background information

The so-called office allowance of €126.94 per month is available to cover the costs of heating, electricity, small office equipment or other necessary facilities at home. This allowance can be granted free of social security contributions to all employees who work from home, including those who did not work from home prior to the pandemic situation, and therefore without the employer and employee having concluded a formal telework contract beforehand.

Content of measure

The temporary expense allowance for working from home is an office allowance of €126.94 per month. This amount is the same for all homeworkers. The office allowance covers a range of costs: the office in the private home, small office equipment, electricity, water, heating, insurance, property tax, etc. In order to avoid double use of the expense allowances, employees have to renounce the already existing monthly homework allowance.

In addition to the office allowance, the employer may also reimburse an expense allowance of up to €40 per month for the use of a private Internet connection with a subscription (maximum €20) and a private computer (maximum €20).

If the employee has to incur other costs such as the use of his own telephone or the purchase of a screen, the employer may also reimburse them. But this reimbursement is based on the actual costs. There is no general lump sum for this.

Use of measure

The use of the measure is entirely up to the employer in question and is nationwide across all sectors. It is currently not known how many companies have made use of the allowance.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Companies providing essential services Other businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Informed	Informed
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Involvement unknown

Views and reactions

It is unknown how much the social partners are involved, it is probable that they were at least informed.

Sources

• 13 March 2020: National Social Security Office: allowance for homeworking (www.rsz.fgov.be)