The 2022 declaration will be that of the match actual costs VS fixed deduction of 10%. The tax authorities prepared for this following the revaluation of the mileage scale. What you need to know to help you choose the best option for your income tax.
False start for the income tax declaration campaign in 2022! If you had planned to take advantage of this chilly weekend in the first round of the presidential election to declare your 2022 income, you failed: a technical bug forced the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) to suspend online declaration the day after the launch of the campaign. The reopening of the service should take place this beginning of the week. Without waiting, you can already embark on the choice between real costs synonymous with paperwork and the option of simplicity, the flat-rate deduction of 10%.
This standard allowance is automatic, unless you declare the actual costs: the tax authorities automatically reduce the earned income that you declare by 10%, so 3,000 euros of allowance for 30,000 euros of annual salary. Long live simplicity? Perhaps… but thousands or even millions of taxpayers have an interest this year in switching to actual costs, following the revaluation of the mileage scale.
Important clarification: it does not matter the composition of your household for this match real costs VS fixed deduction. This is an individual choice, and within a couple, one can choose the 10% flat rate and the other detail his actual costs.
1 Priority: choose according to the kilometer scale
No need to go around in circles: the issue of real costs concerns you above all if you use your personal vehicle, car, scooter or motorcycle, to get to work. From experience, when you declare the actual costs, it is quite rare that the various professional costs are higher than the travel costs, recognizes Martin Cortet, heritage engineer of the specialized site Tacotax, which has become weareclimb.fr. The priority is therefore to look into the new mileage scale, before thinking more generally about the rest of your professional expenses. Here is the mileage scale increased by 10%, for income tax 2021, to compensate for soaring fuel prices.
| Administrative power (in CV) | Distance (d) up to 5000 km | Distance (d) of 5001 km 20000 km | Distance (d) beyond 20000 km |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 CV and less | dx 0.502 | (dx 0.3) + 1007 | dx 0.35 |
| 4 HP | dx 0.575 | (dx 0.323) + 1262 | dx 0.387 |
| 5 hp | dx 0.603 | (dx 0.339) + 1320 | dx 0.405 |
| 6 HP | dx 0.631 | (dx 0.355) + 1382 | dx 0.425 |
| 7 CV and more | dx 0.661 | (dx 0.374) + 1435 | dx 0.446 |
First step, if this table puts you off and you don’t even know the number of fiscal horsepower (CV) of your carstart by taking your gray card: the fiscal power or more precisely the national administrative power appears on the line P.6 of your gray card.
second step, approximately how many kilometers do you do each year for your home-to-work journeys? Because it is obviously a question of declaring the only kilometers carried out for your professional needs, and not your leisure or vacation journeys! It’s up to you to estimate the number of days you go to your place of work. Example, for full-time and 5 weeks of country leave, count 235 days (47 weeks worked x 5 days), so 230 days if you have a week of RTT, around 220 days if you have one day of RTT per month and a few additional days of country leave, etc. Or 180 days of presence if you only go there 4 days a week (in the case of teleworking or part-time, for example) and you have 5 weeks of leave + 2 weeks of RTT.
Calculate on this basis the number of kilometers traveled each year, taking into account the round trip. If you are 10km and full time, 20km per day 235 times per year: 4700 km per year.
With the fiscal horsepower of your vehicle and the annual mileage, you have enough information to use the mileage scale above… or to use the official tax simulator calculation of mileage costs.
The tax authorities tell you the amount of your mileage costs. You then have a clear idea of the match between real costs and flat-rate allowances. As the flat-rate deduction is equal to 10% of your income (3,000 euros of allowance for 30,000 euros of annual salary), it suffices to compare this flat rate with the figure obtained thanks to the tax calculator. If the amount of mileage costs already exceeds the amount of the allowance, it is in your interest to switch to actual costs!
10 km from work, 3 days a week
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Ins only goes to the office 3 days a week. She earns a little less than 1700 euros net monthly. She has 5 weeks of country leave and one of RTT, i.e. 138 round trips, which is around 2760 km in the year 2021. She drives a Peugeot 208 displaying 5CV.
| Deductible costs | Tax d in 2022 | Source deduction rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% flat rate | 2000 | 452 | 2.30% |
| Actual costs | 1664 | 506 | 2.76% |
* One round trip per day of 20 km 138 days per year (i.e. 2760 km per year) with a 5CV car.
Verdict: unless she can justify 400 euros or more in additional costs (meals, equipment needed for telecommuting, etc.), Ins has no interest in switching to actual costs.
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15 km from work, 5 days a week
Louison is full-time, with 6 weeks of country leave. She earns just over 2,000 euros per month (she declares 25,000 euros net for the year 2021). She drives a Clio (4CV) and does 30 km a day (15 outwards, 15 returns). Result: 6900 km per year.
| Deductible costs | Tax d in 2022 | Source deduction rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% flat rate | 2500 | 1171 | 4.70% |
| Actual costs | 3491 | 1013 | 4.10% |
* A round trip per day of 30 km 230 days a year (i.e. 6900 km a year) with a 4CV car.
Verdict: without even having begun to look into any additional costs, Louison very clearly had an interest in switching to actual costs, just on the basis of his mileage costs!
25 km from work, 4 days a week
Dominique declares 30,000 euros of annual net salary (2,500 euros net per month), and makes a round trip of 50 km each day, in a Dacia Duster (5 CV), but 45 weeks per year (5 weeks of leave + 2 in RTT).
| Deductible costs | Tax d in 2022 | Source deduction rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% flat rate | 3000 | 2022 | 6.70% |
| Actual costs | 4371 | 1671 | 5.60% |
* A round trip per day of 50 km 180 days a year (i.e. 9000 km a year) with a 5CV car.
Verdict: the actual costs. Without any ambiguity. And this despite Dominique’s regular telework.
Concerning the number of journeys in the year, and therefore the number of total kilometres, the principle remains that of the taxpayer’s good faith. But be careful not to overestimate the number of deductible kilometers either, warns Olivier Rozenfeld, president of Fidroit. No worries as long as the distances are reasonable.
For the two wheels, the principle is the same but the scale is different. Ditto for electric vehicles. Simply indicate the type of vehicle on the tax simulator.
The winners and losers of the increase in the mileage scale
2 Telecommuting, meals… Add all your additional business expenses
In the vast majority of cases, mileage costs are therefore the decisive element in this match between real costs and automatic flat-rate deduction of professional expenses. But if the mileage simulation above guides you to the real costs, you should embark on a detailed review of all your costs incurred for your work.
As from, in addition to travel expenses:
- meal costs (obviously not counting the part covered by your employer, whether through restaurant vouchers or contribution to canteen costs);
- the costs of equipment, furniture or supplies, including if it is a question of equipping your home for teleworking (not counting of course the costs already compensated by the employer);
- expenses for the purchase of clothing necessary for professional practice;
- business premises costs, etc.
All the details on the deduction of actual costs
The teleworking boom obviously complicates the situation, especially if you declare a room dedicated to your work in your home. Then you have to run the calculator: For a 10 m2 room in a 100 m2 apartment, you can count 10% of the insurance, loan interest, etc., listed Martin Cortet, of Climb, before add: In fact, in the event of teleworking one or two days a week, it is still necessary to prorate: reduce these costs to the time of professional use. That is schematically a third of the time for 2 days of telework. This telecommuting calculation is too complex? Opt for the simplified annual ceiling of 580 euros for the 2022 declaration.
The headache of telecommuting costs on your tax return
Where and how to detail the calculation?
The supporting documents must be kept for 3 years, without the need to attach them to your declaration. On the other hand, you must detail your calculation on free paper in the case of a paper declaration, and detail it in the information section of the online declaration (or, in the details section of the section Salaries, wages, click on next then option actual costs.
3 A game-changing right to error
Are you afraid of messing up your calculations? And to choose the actual costs when the flat rate option was more interesting? No worries: in this case the DGFiP automatically takes the best option, that of the flat rate. In case of error, so if you choose the actual costs when you have no interest in it, we will automatically apply the flat-rate deduction of 10%, explains the director of tax administration Jrme Fournel. A right to error, real costs version, the objective being clearly to encourage you to take advantage of this reboosted mileage scale.
Taxes 2022: if you choose the wrong real costs, the DGFiP will correct you