France: what it costs and how it is taxed

This article applies to France.

What you pay per bike

We invoice you for the full amount, whatever you decide to contribute.

The forfait mobilités durables covers this

The FMD lets you pay towards your employees' home-to-work travel by sustainable transport, and bike rental is explicitly eligible. That means you can use it to fund a Swapfiets subscription.

Up to €600 per employee per year is exempt from social contributions and income tax. That rises to €900 where you also contribute towards public transport.

€600 a year is €50 a month, so for most of our bikes the FMD covers the subscription entirely:

For a Deluxe 7 that means a bike that costs your employee nothing and costs you nothing in contributions or tax.

Setting up the FMD

It's optional in the private sector, and mandatory in the state and hospital public sector.

You put it in place through a company agreement, a branch agreement, or a unilateral decision after consulting the CSE. Once it exists, it has to be available to all eligible employees on the same terms.

Your employee provides an attestation sur l'honneur, or a payment receipt for the bike rental. That's what supports the exemption if you're ever asked.

Part-time employees get the full amount. The FMD is proportional to actual use of the transport mode, not to working hours, so someone working three days a week who cycles those three days is entitled to the same as anyone else.

The kilometre allowance

Separately from the FMD, an indemnité kilométrique vélo of €0.25 per kilometre exists for bike journeys outside the FMD's scope. Most employers use one or the other rather than both, and for a subscription the FMD is the more direct route.

Combining with public transport

If you already contribute to a transport season ticket, the two work together. The combined exemption ceiling is €900 per employee per year.

What it costs your organisation

The subscription is a deductible business expense.

Where you fund it through the FMD within the ceiling, there are no social contributions and no income tax for either side, so the cost to you is the subscription and nothing more.

What happens at the end?

Nothing to settle. The subscription is monthly, the bike stays ours, and there's no buyout.

French bike leases typically run for a fixed term and end with a buyout option. With us there's no end date to plan for, and if someone leaves you cancel with 30 days' notice or their subscription moves into their own name.