The next government needs to reform the rules surrounding company bicycles which are complex and unworkable, motoring organisation Bovag said on Monday.

Several years ago, the government replaced a tax break on bikes used to cycle to work with a ‘lease bike’ scheme, similar to that for company cars. However, the rules are so complex that companies are steering clear of offering their staff bikes, Bovag says.

In particular, people using a company bike have to keep a register of how many kilometres they cycle privately, which is then taxed as a company perk. But there is no uniform way of calculating this, and tax inspectors too are divided, Bovag says.

‘We should be praising the fact that employers give their staff a bike, not making it more difficult by introducing impossible tax barriers,’ Bovag said.

Last week, the national statistics office CBS said the average commute to work in the Netherlands is 22 kilometres.