Mileage allowances 2026: employer obligations towards Urssaf

Mileage allowances are exempt from social security contributions when the employee is compelled to use their personal vehicle, when the employer applies the scale in force and when it keeps three proofs: evidence of the business trip, a record of the kilometres travelled per employee and per day, and the vehicle registration document. Without them, Urssaf reintegrates every allowance into the contribution base.

The scale of mileage allowances (IK) is published each year by ministerial decree and constitutes the legal reference for reimbursing employees and managers who use their personal vehicle for professional purposes. In 2026, several points deserve particular attention: the car scale being carried over (unchanged since 2023, so no revaluation), the 20% increase reserved for fully electric vehicles only, and the proof requirements enforced by Urssaf during an inspection, unchanged but strictly applied.

This guide covers the payment of mileage allowances from the employer's point of view: exemption conditions, the evidence file to build, permitted combinations and the case of company officers. The scale itself and its use on the income tax return are covered on our page mileage scale 2026.

The mileage allowance is the mechanism allowing an employer to reimburse, free of social security contributions and income tax, the costs incurred by an employee or manager to use their personal vehicle in the context of professional activity.

On the social security side, the exemption of the allowances paid by the employer rests on the order of 4 September 2025 on professional expenses (article 4), which replaced the order of 20 December 2002: where the employee is compelled to use their personal vehicle for professional purposes, the flat-rate mileage allowance is deemed to be used in accordance with its purpose within the limits set by the mileage scales published by the tax authorities. On the tax side, those same scales support the employee's actual-expenses deduction (article 83, 3° of the French General Tax Code, commented in BOI-RSA-BASE-30-50-30-20, tables in BOI-BAREME-000001), which is covered on our page mileage scale 2026.

The scale is set by order of the minister responsible for the budget, published in the Official Journal, and remains applicable until a new order amends it. The scale applicable in 2026 stems from the order of 27 March 2023 (JORF of 7 April 2023), applicable from the taxation of 2022 income. It has not been amended since (CGI, annex IV, article 6 B, in force since 8 April 2023) and Urssaf reproduces it as is for 2026: no new order was published in 2026.

The full scale, its brackets and how to use it on the income tax return are covered on the dedicated page: mileage scale 2026. Below we keep only what an employer must verify before reimbursing.

The car scale distinguishes three kilometer brackets and five fiscal power levels (CV):

d = distance in kilometers traveled during the year professionally.

Example of calculation, 5 HP car, 8,000 professional km:

Compensation = (8,000 × 0.357) + 1,395 = 2,856 + 1,395 = €4,251

This amount is exempt from social contributions and non-taxable for the employee, within the limit of the scale.

Fiscal power ceiling#

For vehicles whose power exceeds 7 HP, the scale is capped at the 7 HP bracket. A 12 HP vehicle is therefore compensated on the basis of the 7 HP scale. There is no increase beyond this threshold.

Motorcycles and mopeds running exclusively on electricity qualify for the same 20% increase: apply it to the amounts above, or use the already-increased tables published by Urssaf and reproduced on our page mileage scale 2026. Compensating an electric scooter on the combustion table underpays the employee.

Since the taxation of 2020 income (order of 15 February 2021, article 6 B, II of annex IV to the French tax code) and still in force in 2026, owners of electric vehicles benefit from a 20% increase on the amounts resulting from the standard scale, to take into account the absence of fuel costs but the higher cost of purchase and the depreciation of the battery.

Important: this increase is reserved for vehicles running exclusively on electricity. Combustion, hydrogen and plug-in hybrid vehicles fall into the "other vehicles" category and apply the standard scale, with no increase.

The detailed calculation, and the rounding trap between the statutory increase and the pre-calculated table published by Urssaf, are set out in the case study below.

An employee uses a fully electric 5 CV vehicle and covers 8,000 professional kilometres in the year. Two methods coexist and do not give the same amount:

The gap is €3, but it is a genuine payroll trap: the Urssaf table is the one an inspector applies. For an employer, the exemption limit to use is the one in the Urssaf table: start from €5,098, write that choice into your reimbursement policy and keep to it for the whole year; the €3 paid on top would follow the salary regime. The complete tables, both combustion and electric, are on our page mileage scale 2026.

For IK to be exempt from social charges (Urssaf) and tax deductible, several cumulative conditions must be met:

1. Use of a personal vehicle#

The vehicle must not be made available by the company. If a company vehicle is available, IK cannot be paid for that same vehicle. In the case of a mixed fleet (service vehicle for certain trips, personal vehicle for others), precise tracking per trip is essential.

2. Travel of a professional nature#

Journeys made in the direct interest of the company qualify for IK as business travel: customer visits, construction sites, supplier meetings, inter-site travel. The home-to-work journey follows a separate regime: Urssaf expressly allows exempt mileage allowances where the employee is compelled to use their personal vehicle to get to work. How those same journeys are handled on the employee's income tax return is covered on our page mileage scale 2026.

3. Required supporting documents#

An Urssaf or DGFIP inspection may require the production of:

• a travel record (date, place of departure, destination, purpose, mileage);
• the registration certificate of the vehicle (to verify the fiscal horsepower);
• any document attesting to the professional nature of the trip (meeting minutes, purchase order, customer invitation).

Hayot Expertise Advice: the practice of the "monthly package without details" is systematically corrected during inspections. A monthly table with one line per move, even a simple one, provides solid protection. We recommend setting up a monitoring tool (structured Excel, expense report software) from the first employee concerned.

The evidence file an Urssaf inspector asks for#

Without these documents, Urssaf does not apply a discount: it reintegrates the mileage allowances into the base for social security contributions. Three periods not to be confused: 3 years of limitation on contributions (art. L244-3 of the CSS), 3 years of tax reassessment (art. L169 of the LPF), 6 years of mandatory retention of documents (art. L102 B of the LPF).

The fuel card only covers the cost of fuel, while the IK covers all usage costs (depreciation, maintenance, insurance, fuel). For an employee who travels more than 10,000 professional km per year, the IK is generally more advantageous. Below this, the fuel card may be simpler to manage.

The employer who pays IK has several obligations:

1. Define a reimbursement policy: the ideal is to formalize it in an internal memo or in the internal regulations, specifying the scale used, the reimbursement conditions and the processing time for expense reports.
2. Check the fiscal horsepower on the vehicle registration document: a reimbursement calculated on an incorrect power is a risk of recovery.
3. Process correctly in payroll: IK within the scale limit do not appear as taxable salary.

They appear on the separate online pay slip not subject to contributions. Beyond the scale, the surplus is subject to contributions and IR. 4. Archive the supporting documents: for 3 years for social law (Urssaf three-year prescription), 3 years for the tax authorities' reassessment period on income tax and corporate tax (article L169 of the LPF), but 6 years of mandatory retention of books, registers, documents and supporting items (article L102 B of the LPF).

The mileage scale is calculated to cover all expenses linked to the use of a vehicle:

• Depreciation (write-down of the vehicle according to its value and total mileage)
• Maintenance costs (services, tires, technical checks)
• Insurance (professional portion)
• Fuel (or electricity for electric vehicles) In return, the employee or manager who opts for reimbursement in IK cannot deduct these same expenses separately if he also declares his actual expenses for income tax: the scale is global and flat-rate.

Company officers (gérant, SAS president and similar) can also receive IK under the same conditions as employees. The deduction is allowed on the company side if:

• the displacement is real and documented;
• reimbursement is justified by a travel report;
• the vehicle actually belongs to the officer (and not to their spouse or to the company).

Where management remuneration and IK are combined, the administration checks the overall consistency (a manager declaring 50,000 professional km on a personal car while the company has a company vehicle will be first in line for an inspection).

You can extend with tax meal expenses 2026, laundry expenses 2026 and tax or social security question.

An accounting firm like Hayot Expertise can support you on several levels:

• Audit of your current practices: verification of the scale applied, the tax power used, the quality of the supporting documents in place;
• Establishment of a monitoring procedure: dashboard model, configuration in your payroll software, training of managers;
• Defense in the event of an Urssaf inspection: creation of the supporting file, support during the verification phases.

Discover our payroll and professional expense support