Below we explain how you can activate the benefit and how the mobility budget is paid out.

• Basics and interesting facts about the mobility allowance
• Activation for employees & configuration of the allowance
• Integration with payroll accounting / payment of the mobility allowance
  
  • Receive import file for the payroll program

• Document check in the employer portal

• Further options for tax savings
• Further sources for tax-free payment of public transport allowances (since 01.01.2019)

Basics and interesting facts about the mobility allowance

A mobility allowance is an allowance set by you that your employees can use for various forms of transportation - from public transport, car sharing, e-scooters, shuttle buses, company cars to cabs. The tax regulations for the mobility allowance differ depending on the form of mobility used. Journeys by local public transport are always tax-free, while journeys by cab or company car are taxable.

Activation for employees & configuration of the allowance

To make the mobility budget benefit available to an employee, you must configure the benefit for the employee. To do this, go to your menu on the left side and then select mobility > employees.

Can't select the “mobility” tab? Get in touch with your personal contact directly. They will be happy to enable the section for you.

Select the relevant employee in the “Benefit inactive” column and click on “Configure now for x employees”.

Tip: To select all employees collectively, check the box to the left of “Employees”.

Add your desired details in the new pop-up window and complete the configuration by clicking on Activate.

The current month is always set as the start date, as well as the amount of €50. You have the option of specifying both the start and end date and the monthly amount individually. If you do not set an end date, the employee will automatically receive the specified mobility allowance every month on an ongoing basis.

Your employees are now automatically moved to the “Benefit active” column. Information on the amount and from when the benefit is active is automatically added to the overview.

You can also end the benefit or change options here using the “Change configuration for x employees” button.

Integration with payroll accounting / payment of the mobility allowance

For your payroll accounting, you receive a monthly statement of all your employees' submitted receipts as an interface-optimized import file. This allows payroll accountants or tax consultants to transfer the relevant data efficiently and securely to common payroll programs. After the one-off configuration in the employer portal by you, your employees receive the reimbursement of the submitted vouchers together with their salary payment for the following month, e.g. vouchers submitted in April are therefore paid out with the salary transfer at the end of May.

The payroll data is automatically transferred to your desired payroll program, e.g. Datev LODAS or Lexware.

If the accounting system has been changed, please contact Probonio Support and we will make the change for you. You can then enter all information on wage types and e-mail addresses etc. yourself for the respective benefit.

Tip: After setting up and downloading for the first time, you can activate automatic monthly dispatch to up to three email addresses. This ensures that the mobility allowance is always settled on time. To do this, be sure to check the box “Automatically send me the payroll data reports by email every month”
You can see when you will receive the report under “Mobility” and then “Settings”.

Receive import file for the payroll program

To do this, open the menu and click on the section data export section in the Mobility area.

The next step is to choose your payroll accounting system. The vast majority of tax firms use DATEV. DATEV offers two programs for payroll accounting: LODAS and Lohn & Gehalt.

Now add your consultant number, client number and at least the wage type (de: Lohnart) tax-free and download the report. You must enter this data for the one-off configuration of the integration in the employer portal. You can obtain this from your tax office.

Tip:

Please note the following when configuring the wage type (de: Lohnart):

• Tax-free
• SIocial security-free
• No net deduction

You must create a master wage type for automatic payroll accounting. In DATEV Lodas, for example, the master wage type 854 Fare tax-free and Social security-free is listed (https://apps.datev.de/help-center/documents/1002688 )

Document check in the employer portal

Part of our Probonio service is that we take over the voucher verification for your company. You also have the option of checking receipts independently in your employer portal. This option allows you to process receipts yourself at any time - based on your individual decisions.

Please note: If the independent check is carried out by the employer, the check by our document verification team doesn't take place.

To check receipts, go to the “Mobility” tab in “Receipts”. Here you can select the current month and check the receipt using the receipt icon on the right.

The receipt now appears on the right-hand side. You can now decide whether you want to reject or accept this receipt. 

Important: As soon as you check the receipts yourself, they will no longer be checked by Probonio.

Choose one of the two options.

Important: If you reject a voucher, a reason for rejection is required for you to proceed.

The document is now displayed with Document released / Document rejected. The document check is now complete.

If required, you can also accept/reject vouchers that have already been checked by Probonio.

To do this, select the voucher icon at the end of the line again. Here too, the receipt appears on the right-hand side and can be edited accordingly.

Important: If you reject a voucher, a reason for rejection is required for you to proceed.

As soon as you check the receipts yourself, they will no longer be checked by Probonio.

Further options for tax savings

 You will have noticed the choice between “Flexible mobility allowance” and “Tax-free mobility allowance” during the benefit activation process:

If you activate the checkbox “Tax-free mobility allowance”, the employee can only submit receipts for means of transport that are listed as tax-free (means of local public transport: bus, regional train, suburban train). With the flexible mobility allowance, all means of transport can be used and submitted, e.g. also car sharing or cabs, but such costs must be taxed.

The tax regulations for the mobility allowance can be found in the Income Tax Act: § 3 No. 15 EStG

Further sources for tax-free payment of public transport allowances (since 01.01.2019)

• Haufe article
• BMF Schreiben
• EstG §3 Nr. 15

Translation Note: This article has been translated using automatic translation software to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the content. Despite reasonable efforts to provide an accurate translation, we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

If there are any questions regarding the accuracy of the information in the translated article, please refer to the German version of the article, which is the official version.