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Tip for entrepreneurs and employees: In the Netherlands, not all Workation expenses can automatically be treated as business expenses. The Dutch Tax and Customs Administration applies strict rules and conditions regarding which costs are and are not tax deductible.

By clearly substantiating your expenses and demonstrating how your Workation contributes to your company’s business objectives, you can build a compelling business case. Consider benefits such as increased productivity, employee wellbeing, creative output and expanding your professional network. You can also make Workations a strategic HR and employer-branding tool. This is how you turn your Workation into an incredibly valuable investment.

1. Travel and accommodation expenses

Travel expenses: If the Workation has a clear business purpose, such as attending a conference or training course, working at a project location or forming part of a deliberate and necessary HR or employer-branding strategy, travel expenses such as flights and train journeys may be treated as business expenses and can therefore be reimbursed and deducted by the company.

Accommodation expenses: Hotel costs or the cost of staying in an apartment may also be treated as business expenses, provided that the accommodation is necessary for carrying out the work and the business purpose of the trip is properly documented.

2. Food and drink expenses

Food and drink: Food and drink expenses incurred during a Workation cannot be treated entirely as business expenses. As a general rule, only additional costs resulting from the business trip are reimbursed, such as meals you would not otherwise have needed to purchase. It may therefore be reasonable to argue that breakfast and lunch had to be eaten away from home. There is often a fixed percentage that may be deducted. In some cases, these expenses can be claimed but will then be subject to the Dutch work-related expenses scheme (WKR).

Under the WKR rules, some of the expenses incurred may qualify as a ‘specific exemption’. However, this exemption is not unlimited and mainly applies to meals provided during meetings, training sessions and similar business activities, rather than every meal consumed during the Workation.

🔆In every Workation Plan, our experts assess which expenses may and may not be deducted based on your personal or business situation.
Present your boss with a carefully considered budget for your Workation!

3. Work-related expenses

• Work facilities: Expenses directly related to carrying out your work, such as temporarily renting an additional workspace or a hire car, internet connection costs and required software licences, may also be treated as business expenses.
  
  
• Equipment: If specific equipment must be purchased for the Workation, this may generally also be claimed as a business expense, provided that the equipment has a clear and logical business purpose.
  
  

4. Expenses that are not tax deductible

• Personal expenses: Expenses such as tourist activities, personal excursions and souvenirs are, of course, private expenses and cannot be claimed as business expenses. However, specific networking or team activities offered as part of the team Workation, such as TWKTS Private Experiences including boat trips, cooking sessions and masterclasses, may be booked as business expenses. Traffic fines and similar costs cannot be deducted as business expenses, even when they are incurred while driving a company car, just as they cannot be deducted in the Netherlands.
  
  
• Complete meals: As mentioned earlier, not all meals consumed during a Workation are fully deductible as business expenses. An exception may apply to the additional cost of business-related meals that form a logical part of the Workation schedule or experience.
  
  

5. Making the case to your boss

When presenting the costs to your boss, you can emphasise the following:

• Cost savings: Although the business expenses associated with a Workation may appear to be one-off costs, they can pay for themselves through the benefits outlined below, including increased productivity and improved employee retention. In some cases, employers may also save on office space or other work-related facilities.
  
  
• Productivity and focus: Employees experience fewer everyday office distractions and routines, helping them concentrate and make progress on an important project that has struggled to get off the ground. Productivity increases of between 34% and as much as 52% have been reported during Workations.
  
  
• Reducing outstanding annual leave: Employees can agree to use several days of annual leave as part of their Workation. This allows them to reduce the substantial amount of accrued leave within many companies while staying in a beautiful location, with travel and accommodation expenses largely covered by their employer. A combination is sometimes agreed, ensuring that employees have enough time to rest and recharge even though they take their work with them.  
  
  
• Increased creativity: Employees who have the opportunity to recharge and feel inspired by a new environment become more effective and creative in their work.
  
  
• Attracting and retaining talent:  Organisations that respond to personal preferences and different stages of life strengthen employee engagement. This makes employees less likely to leave, reducing both staff turnover and recruitment costs. If an organisation with 100 employees reduces its annual staff turnover from 15% to 5%, meaning ten fewer employees leave, this can quickly generate savings of between €116,000 and more than €200,000 per year.
  
  Research by Centraal Beheer and Achmea shows that between 30% and 41% of employees are interested in taking a Workation, particularly younger employees, with latent demand also present among older employees. This also makes Workations a powerful way to attract scarce talent as a standard part of your employer branding and employee benefits.
  
  
• Vitality and reducing sickness absence: Combining work with relaxation significantly improves employee wellbeing. This leads to lower sickness absence and, in the longer term, greater peace of mind, motivation and enjoyment at work throughout the organisation. By including Workations in their employee benefits, for example for a maximum of three weeks per year, employees have an opportunity to gain extra energy throughout the year, outside their regular holidays.

Conclusion: Workations offer many business benefits in terms of both productivity and effectiveness. These benefits can substantially outweigh the cost of organising a Workation. However, not all expenses associated with organising a Workation are tax deductible as business expenses in the Netherlands.
It is important to document the business purpose of each expense carefully and to present your boss with realistic proposals regarding which costs the company may and is permitted to cover. The theWorkationers Workation Plan provides immediate insight into the budget. In our experience, our Workation Plans often result in 93–100% of the costs being tax deductible for the company.

Monday – “The idea strikes”