Rush for Dutch bike-to-work scheme
6th November 2014
A last-minute rush is on in the Netherlands, to take advantage of
the Dutch bike-to-work scheme before it ends at the end of 2014. NOS.nl reports
that the number of enquiries received by NFP, the organisation which
administers the scheme, was 60% higher in October this year than in
October 2013.
The scheme, which is very similar to the UK version, allows employees to buy bikes out of their gross salaries, effectively making the purchase tax-free. In 2013, of a total of 1 million bikes, 200,000 were bought under the bike-to-work scheme. Many more will be bought under bike-to-work in 2014.
Already in September, the number of enquiries was 25% higher than the year before. Bob Dijksma, director of NFP, expects November to see an even bigger increase than October's 60%. Extra staff have been hired to deal with the anticipated work.
Bike shops are benefiting from the surge, but Chris Jacobs, owner of the Profile bike shop in Heerenveen, is expecting the first few months of 2015 to be hard. 'While the bike-to-work scheme lasts, I have to make the most of it. The first months of next year will be difficult.'
From 1st January 2015, the bike-to-work scheme stops. It is to be replaced by another scheme which will allow employers to give their employees certain benefits tax-free - for example staff parties or Christmas bonuses. The benefits could include bikes, but it is up to each business to decide what to offer.