How we calculate mileage (applied to the French market) 🇫🇷
Sometimes, the amounts charged for mileage expenses can be confusing to understand. This guide explains Spendesk's approach to calculating mileage expenses, and why amounts can vary between submission and reimbursement.
For: Employees submitting mileage claims, and Controllers/Account Owners approving them, on French (URSSAF) accounts.
Calculate car mileage
How we calculate expenses under 5,000 km
The URSSAF annual scale sets the reimbursement amount based on the number of kilometers driven per year. Spendesk reconciles this annual scale with a system of one-off requests submitted through the Requests tab.
Below 5,000 km, the amount is calculated as: Distance x scale (0.529 to 0.697), depending on horsepower.
How we calculate over 5,000 km
Above 5,000 km, Spendesk calculates the difference between what a user has already received and what they'd receive from their company if they reported their mileage expenses annually.
From 5,001 to 20,000 km (yearly)
Example: Mark owns a 6CV car. He has already received 5,000 km x 0.665 = 3,325 euros (Amount A). He then drives an additional 30 km.
He might expect to receive 30 x 0.665 = 19.95 euros, as before.
Instead, Spendesk calculates 5,030 km on the annual scale: 5,030 x 0.374 + 1,457 = 3,338.22 euros (Amount B).
Mark receives the difference between Amount B and Amount A: 3,338.22 − 3,325 = 13.22 euros.
This total matches what Mark would receive if he submitted only one request per year. (Source: URSSAF.)
⚠️ Note: If a user changes vehicle during the year, the counter starts again from zero, because the scale is applied separately for each type of vehicle (mileage doesn't carry over between vehicles). See the official Impots.gouv.fr guidance for more detail.
20,001 km and more
Spendesk repeats the same two-step calculation (Amount A and Amount B), but applies the corresponding higher-mileage URSSAF scale for this bracket.
Electric vehicles
On French accounts using the URSSAF rate, you can tick Electric car if you own an electric vehicle. This increases your claim amount by 20%.
Scale for two-wheelers under 50cm³ and for motorcycles
Spendesk applies the official URSSAF scales for two-wheeled vehicles under 50cm³ and for motorcycles. See the URSSAF rates and scales page for the current amounts.
Variations between submission and reimbursement of a claim
Submission
When you submit a mileage claim, Spendesk estimates the reimbursement amount based on the current rate and your previously approved mileage claims for the year. This estimated amount isn't final — it updates when the claim is approved.
Approval
When a mileage claim is approved (by an approver, Account Owner, or cost center owner), Spendesk recalculates the final amount using the rate in effect at the time of approval. The final amount can differ from the estimate for three reasons:
The number of kilometers driven during the year reached a new threshold while the claim was pending approval, so the new rate applies.
A rate change occurred while the claim was pending approval, so the new rate applies.
The "compensation for rate change" (see below) was already applied to another claim, so this claim is reimbursed at the normal rate.
Compensation for rate changes during the year (URSSAF update)
When France, the UK, or Germany updates their annual mileage rate, the new rate applies retroactively to all claims made since the beginning of the current year. For example, if the rate updates in March, claims made between January and March are reimbursed at the new rate.
Since Spendesk cannot edit the amount of claims already approved, this compensation is applied to the amount of the next mileage claim submitted. That claim is reimbursed using the new rate, plus the additional amount owed for claims made since January 1 under the old rate.
💡 Tip: All newly created claims account for this compensation until one of them is approved — after that, the amounts of the remaining claims return to normal.
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