Sustainable mobility allowance: setup and exemption

Quick answer. The sustainable mobility allowance is an optional employer contribution towards home-to-work commuting using clean mobility. In 2026, it is exempt from social contributions and income tax up to EUR 600 per year per employee, a cap raised to EUR 900 when combined with the public transport pass contribution.

You want to encourage cycling, carpooling or car-sharing among your employees, without inflating your payroll costs or taking a payroll risk. The sustainable mobility allowance (in France, the forfait mobilités durables, FMD) answers this need exactly: an attractive social benefit, exempt within precise limits, but one whose poorly framed setup can be costly in an Urssaf audit. Here is how to deploy it cleanly.

The FMD is an optional employer contribution towards home-to-work travel costs incurred using clean mobility. Unlike the public transport pass contribution, which is mandatory, you are never required to set up the FMD. It is a social policy choice.

The benefit is twofold: retain and motivate your teams with a concrete advantage, while enjoying an exemption from social contributions and income tax within the set limits. For the employee, it is a top-up free of tax and contributions, which makes it far more efficient than a standard bonus at an equivalent employer cost.

Eligible travel modes#

The scheme covers several mobility types. Here is the summary of the journeys concerned.

The common thread across these modes: favouring journeys that are more sustainable than the individual petrol or diesel car. This logic guides the authorities whenever the eligibility of an expense is in doubt.

This is the most sensitive payroll point. The cap depends on what else you pay the employee towards their commute. Here are the limits applicable in 2026.

The key phrase is overall envelope. The EUR 900 cap is not the sum of EUR 600 of FMD plus a free transport amount. It is a single limit above which the excess fraction becomes subject again to contributions and tax. Many employers reason by addition and trigger a reassessment without realising it.

Our reading#

In payroll files, the FMD is an excellent attractiveness lever provided you treat it as a framed scheme, not as a free bonus. Our reading is simple: start modest and tidy rather than ambitious and vague. A well-documented FMD of EUR 300 to EUR 500, paid to everyone under the same rules, is worth more than a maximum amount poorly tracked that collapses at the first audit. The value of the scheme rests as much on legal security as on the amount.

The setup follows a precise procedure. Here are the steps to respect.

1. Choose the legal vehicle. The FMD is set up by company or industry-wide agreement. Failing an agreement, you may use a unilateral employer decision (DUE), after consulting the works council (CSE) if one exists in the company.
2. Define the scope. Specify the covered travel modes and the conditions of award, staying within the exempt field.
3. Set the amount. Determine the annual amount within the exemption limit applicable to your situation (EUR 600 or EUR 900).
4. Guarantee equal treatment. The scheme must benefit all employees under identical conditions.
5. Organise supporting documents. Payment is made on proof of use or a sworn statement from the employee.
6. Configure payroll and document. Set up the payslip line and keep all the evidence.

Drafting the agreement or the DUE is not a mere formality. It is the document that defines the amount, the beneficiaries and the expected supporting documents, and that protects you in case of dispute. For payroll itself, our firm relies on proven tools: see our Silae payroll software for configuring exempt payslip lines.

The underestimated risk#

The most frequently overlooked risk is not exceeding the cap, it is the breach of equal treatment. Reserving the FMD for the head-office cyclists, or for one category of employees without objective justification, exposes you to a reclassification of the benefit and to a contribution recovery on all the payments. The scheme must be open to all under identical conditions. If you want to reserve it for some, you need an objective and defensible criterion, not a convenience preference.

The exemption is only secure if you can prove it. Here is the checklist of items to archive.

• The company or industry-wide agreement, or the signed DUE.
• The proof of CSE consultation where one exists.
• The proof of use or sworn statement from each employee, collected at least once a year.
• The detail of amounts paid per employee and per year.
• The correctly configured payslip line and its history.

A complete file on these five points turns a potentially long Urssaf audit into a simple document check. This is exactly the reflex we put in place in our payroll and HR missions in Paris.

A Paris-based SME wishes to pay the maximum to its employees in the Greater Paris area. It already contributes half of the Navigo pass and wants to add an FMD for those who cycle part of the journey. The classic mistake is to pay EUR 600 of FMD on top of the transport contribution, thinking each scheme has its own cap. In reality, the FMD and transport pass combination is capped at EUR 900 in overall exemption. Beyond that, the excess fraction becomes subject again. A simple reading of the overall cap avoids this social and tax extra cost.

• Think in overall envelope, never in addition of caps, whenever there is a combination.
• Document equal treatment: the same conditions for all employees.
• Collect supporting documents each year, without waiting for the audit.
• Distinguish the three caps: EUR 600 for the FMD alone, EUR 900 with the transport pass, EUR 600 with the transport bonus.
• Have the agreement or DUE reviewed by a professional before distribution.

These points of vigilance often overlap with other compensation decisions of the year. If you are weighing several benefit levers, read our overview of 2026 hiring incentives and our analysis of the 2026 value-sharing bonus, two schemes that combine well with the FMD in a coherent social policy.