Who can enable and define custom mileage rates in Moss
The new mileage rates screen is only available in the web application for admins and accountants, thus they are the only ones who can enable and define custom mileage rates.
How to enable and define custom mileage rates
Enable Custom Mileage Rates
Navigate to “Settings” > “Reimbursements”
Open the “Mileage” tab.
By default, custom mileage rates are not used, so you will see the governmental rates only. Click on “Enable custom rates” flag, confirm a modal (a way of acknowledging the potential implications of modifying the tax-free rates established by local regulation) to be able to define custom rates.
Define a Custom Mileage Rate
Navigate to “Settings” > “Reimbursements”
Open the “Mileage” tab.
Click the “Add mileage rate” (make sure custom mileages are enabled)
To support the different regulations (DE, NL, UK), we allow customers to define thresholds per mileage rate.
For example, when travelling by motorcycle, DE regulation establishes different rates for the first 20 kilometres per one-way trip vs every kilometre above 20 per one-way trip, while UK regulation establishes different rates for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year vs each business mile over 10,000 in the tax year.
When setting up thresholds, it’s also possible to select the distance aggregation method – whether these thresholds should apply to the single reimbursed trip, or all the distance of the user in the corresponding tax year should be taken into account.
Fixed rate sample:
Rate with thresholds:
Replace the governmental rate with the custom one
It’s not possible to remove or edit the governmental rates, but you can replace them for the users.
First, you need to archive the governmental rate by going to "Settings" > "Reimbursements" > open the "Mileage" tab
Click on the rate you want to hide in the list and click on the three dots in the top right corner > “Archive”.
After this action it’s not possible to submit the mileage reimbursement requests with this rate, users won’t see it. The archive function is undoable, so you can unarchive the rate at any moment.
Now create a replacement, a new custom rate.
Once the rate has been replaced, the new rate will apply to all your platform users.
FAQs: Custom mileage rates
Q: What are Custom Mileage Rates?
When using Moss to reimburse employees' mileages, you may need to adjust the default mileage rates defined by local regulations, as well as to create new rates on top of the existing ones. Here is where custom mileage rates come into play – allowing you to achieve exactly this.
Q: How do Custom Mileage Rates work?
Admins / accountants define rates with adjusted reimbursement values, replace the governmental ones with them – and from that moment, platform users may submit new mileage reimbursement requests with updated rates, exactly the same way it worked for them with the governmental mileage rates.
Example 1:
As a DE customer, I use Moss to reimburse my employees commuting expenses. Per DE regulations, the governmental rate for cars in 2023 is EUR 0.30. However, I want to pay my employees EUR 0.35. For that reason, I will create the new rate:
Car = EUR 0.35
Example 2:
As a UK customer, I use Moss to reimburse my employees commuting expenses. Currently, Moss supports 3 different mileage rates for the UK:
car (GBP 0.45)
motorcycle (GBP 0.24)
bike (GBP 0.20)
However, in the UK, mileage regulation establishes that employees carrying fellow employees in a car or van on journeys which are also work journeys for them, are eligible to receive 5p extra per passenger per business mile. This rate is not supported in Moss. For that reason, I would like to create 3 new rates:
Car (+1 passenger) = GBP 0.50
Car (+2 passengers) = GBP 0.55
Car (+3 passengers) = GBP 0.60
Q: Can I edit the custom rate, if reimbursements have been submitted using the custom mileage rates?
Yes, it’s possible. Changes will be applied only to the newly created mileage reimbursement requests; previously created ones won’t be affected.
Q: Can I return to using legal rates only?
Yes, it’s possible. You can untick the “Enable custom rates” at any moment, and your users will only have the option to use the legal rates. Changes will be applied only to the newly created mileage reimbursement requests; previously created ones won’t be affected.