A bicycle leasing plan for businesses – is it still good value in 2025?

Providing a bicycle leasing plan will allow your employees to lease a bicycle in a tax-friendly way. But what is a bicycle plan and why would you offer one as an employer in 2025? How do you get started with bicycle leasing as a business in Belgium? And how do you put a bicycle plan together? Everything you need to know, you can find here. 

You might find the following items interesting as well: 

• What is bicycle leasing? 
• What will bicycle leasing cost you as an employer? 
• Bicycle leasing as part of the cafeteria plan: how does that work? 
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A bicycle leasing plan for businesses – what is it exactly? 

A bicycle leasing plan is an additional fringe benefit for your employees that's quite cleverly conceived from a tax perspective. That is because a bicycle plan gives your employees the chance to lease a bicycle, without you, as their employer, having to pay anything towards it yourself. 

Increasing numbers of companies are offering bicycle leasing to their employees, because it's a smart and tax-efficient way of making an employee's salary package more attractive. - CEO Geert De Rycke

So how does a leasing plan actually work exactly? 

That's simple – by taking out a bicycle leasing plan, your employees finance the cost of the company bicycle using part of their gross salary. That means that as an employer, you don't need to pay anything towards the cost of your employee's lease bicycle. What about the admin? We take care of that for you. 

And what do my employees get out of this? 

Well, leasing a bicycle is up to 40% cheaper than buying one themselves. By financing a company bicycle from their gross salary, they will be using part of their salary that would otherwise form part of their taxable income.

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This is how your employees finance their lease bicycle

In many cases, it will depend on what's included in the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) for your sector:

• Salary sacrifice from the employee's gross monthly salary
• End-of-year bonus
• Mobility budget 
• Bonus
• Days of holiday

P.S. A lease bicycle is one of the top 5 most frequently chosen fringe benefits. In that regard, it's a bit like a Netflix subscription made available by their employer.

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The 4 advantages of bicycle leasing for employers

Why, as a company, would you offer a bicycle plan to your employees? What benefits does a bicycle plan actually provide? Well, it actually has a whole host of benefits, for you as well as for your colleagues.

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Financial benefits: it's fully budget-neutral

Everyone wants a bigger salary. And let's be honest, if you could, you'd definitely want to give your employees a nice salary boost, wouldn't you? Unfortunately though, your budget isn't endless. A bicycle leasing plan, on the other hand, means that your employees can get more from their salary, without it costing you a penny.

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Bicycle plan: a tax benefit for employees

Because bicycle leasing is completely budget-neutral for you. You don't pay anything yourself for your employees' lease bicycles. They also get to enjoy a tax benefit of around 40% when leasing a bicycle, compared to what it would cost them if they bought one themselves. 

So maybe you're now thinking: is a lease bicycle actually something that my employees are looking out for? Yes, it certainly is. But then, why would you take our word for it? To fact-check what we're saying, you just need to look at the recent statistics: bicycle leasing is one of the top 5 most frequently chosen fringe benefits. 

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The HR & employer branding benefits of a bicycle leasing plan

Offering a bicycle plan actually gives your entire HR management a boost. Because attracting new talent is easier if you're giving people what they want. And that is – having a range of fringe benefits to choose from. 

And by offering a bicycle plan, you're immediately demonstrating the importance you attach to sustainable mobility and your employees' well-being. Did you know that in this day and age, employees take the view that working for an employer that pays attention to sustainability and well-being is important? They are also more likely to commit themselves to an employer that is actively engaging with those issues. 

So you may now be thinking: “That's all well and good, but if I offer a fringe benefit to my workforce, I want it to be something that all of my employees can benefit from.” If so, we've got some good news for you. Because blue-collar workers, statutory members of staff, contract-based employees and white-collar employees all have access to bicycle leasing, if a CLA for flexible remuneration for bicycle leasing is in place, of course. We will be happy to put together separate bicycle plans, tailored to the specific status of each type of employee. 

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Sustainability and health benefits

More and more legislation is coming into force to require organisations to make efforts to increase sustainability. Not every company is obliged to report on the steps they have taken, but once that becomes a reality, you'll want to be prepared. 

A bicycle plan will immediately give you  some additional points you can include in your sustainability reporting. It will also provide a major boost to your ESG policy. But if you're taking sustainability seriously, you will want to supplement that ESG policy by undertaking some additional initiatives. 

Bicycle leasing offers a whole host of health benefits as well. Anyone who travels to work by bicycle will be sure to notice the positive effects that it has on their mental and physical health. Getting enough exercise and breathing in lots of fresh air are always a good idea. 

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Starting a bicycle plan in just 3 steps

Looking to start a bicycle leasing plan? It's actually quicker than you think. Especially if you choose o2o Bicycle Leasing, because ease and convenience are our strengths. Just three steps are all it takes and we'll make sure that your employees will soon be pedalling along on a lease bicycle. 

1. Simply get in touch with us.
   
   
2. Discuss your needs with one of our experts to put together one or more bicycle plans and a bicycle policy that are fully tailored to your organisation.
   
   
3. Our experts will explain everything to your employees in detail during a kick-off session, which can either take place online or in person at your company's premises. And if you want, we'll organise a free test event at your premises.

The service provided by o2o even includes providing a tailor-made bicycle policy along with the addenda for the workforce's employment contracts. All of this makes bicycle leasing via o2o truly accessible and easy to implement.
- David, Talent Coach at vdk bank about his experience with bicycle leasing

What does a bicycle plan actually contain?

All of the parameters for bicycle leasing within your company. OK, but that doesn't tell me an awful lot, does it. 

In a bicycle plan, you establish the arrangements regarding:

• Salary sacrifice calculation: who draws up the salary sacrifice calculation?
• Order windows: when can employees order a bicycle?
• Log-in details: how can employees log on to our platform?
• Services included in the leasing plan: which ones are optional and which are compulsory?

We will find out whether an integration is in place with a flexible remuneration partner, or whether a separate bicycle plan will be needed for blue-collar workers and white-collar employees, how your employees will finance their lease bicycle and whether they will be allowed to pay a personal contribution.