One of the advantages of working through an umbrella company rather than going fully solo is how your business costs are handled. You continue finding and managing your own work, while the company that employs you can reimburse eligible professional expenses according to the rules in your country.
How these expenses are treated varies across Europe. In many countries, eligible costs can be reimbursed through the employment structure rather than being paid from your personal income. The exact rules differ by market, so here is how the main systems work.
Key takeaways
- In many European markets, an employment model can reimburse eligible business expenses according to local rules.
- The UK is the outlier: since 2016, most umbrella contractors there can't claim travel or subsistence, while continental markets remain far more generous.
Why employment makes expenses work
When you freelance through an umbrella-style employment model, the company invoices your client, employs you, and pays you a salary after its costs. Your genuine business expenses remain inside that flow, and that placement is what makes them efficient.
Two categories tend to appear everywhere, under different names. There are costs your client agrees to cover, often rebilled to them directly and reimbursed to you in full, and there are costs you carry yourself to run your activity, which can usually be set against your revenue before tax and social contributions are calculated, rather than paid out of taxed income.
The second category is where the value is, and where national rules diverge most. So let's look at them.
France: portage salarial
France's portage salarial is the closest continental relative of a UK umbrella, and one of the clearest systems to follow.
Business costs split into two. Mission expenses, travel, accommodation, and meals for a specific client assignment are rebilled to the client on top of your day rate and reimbursed at 100%, with no commission taken by the portage company. Operating expenses, the costs the client has not agreed to cover, are deducted from your revenue and paid back to you free of both income tax and social contributions.
However, there's a limitation: deductible operating expenses are generally capped at around 20 to 30% of gross monthly salary, and every claim needs a receipt. Mileage on a genuine business trip is declared at actual cost. There is no test that presumes you are an ordinary commuter and blocks the claim, which, as you will see shortly, is exactly where the UK differs.
Spain: the autónomo route and beyond
Spain rewards freelancers who keep good records, and penalizes those who do not. An expense is deductible if it is genuinely linked to your activity and you can prove it with an invoice.
The specifics are unusually concrete. Under the most common simplified regime, autónomos can automatically deduct 5% of net income as hard-to-justify expenses, up to €2,000 a year, without providing individual receipts for it. On top of that, business travel costs to visit clients are fully deductible, meals away from base are allowed up to €26.67 a day when paid by card, and social security contributions are always 100% deductible. Home-office utilities such as electricity, water, phone, and internet are deductible at 30% of the business-use proportion of your home.
The through-line is documentation. The Spanish tax agency only accepts costs backed by a proper invoice, and it can look back four years, so digital records are not optional.
Belgium and the Netherlands
Belgium offers a choice that many freelancers underuse. You can deduct professional expenses at their actual, itemized cost, or you can take a lump sum instead. The flat-rate route is 30% of gross profit up to a capped amount, which removes the need to justify every line. Most expenses are fully deductible, though cars, restaurant bills, and representation costs are only partly deductible, and car deductions are tapering down toward zero by 2028.
The Netherlands works differently again, and relies on the employer relationship directly. Genuine business costs such as commuter and business travel, telephone, and tuition can be reimbursed by the employer tax-free, provided they can be proven. Documented equipment, travel, and professional costs are deductible, while items like ordinary clothing and personal devices are not.
Switzerland and the UAE each have their own systems again, shaped by local tax and social security rules. The detail changes; the underlying logic, that genuine business costs are reimbursed rather than absorbed, does not.
The UK as the one exception
The UK is the one major market where employed freelancers mostly cannot reclaim their travel and subsistence expenses.
There’s a specific reason for it. In 2016, HMRC introduced a supervision, direction or control test which made the relief on home-to-work travel and subsistence denied where anyone in the supply chain supervises, directs or controls the worker, or has the right to. In practice, most umbrella workers are treated as caught by it, which turns each assignment into a permanent workplace and each journey into ordinary commuting.
This was a response to abuse. Some intermediary firms had been inflating expense claims to boost take-home pay, and HMRC closed it down for everyone. Narrow claims survive: business mileage at 55p per mile, approved subscriptions, equipment, a £6-a-week home-working allowance, but they are claimed from HMRC directly, not through the umbrella, and cover income tax only.
What this means if you're choosing where to freelance
In most of Europe, an employment model can make it easier to keep genuine business costs separate from your personal income. What you can claim, how it is reimbursed, and what proof you need all depend on the country you work in.
Hightekers employs freelancers in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and the UAE, and handles eligible expenses according to the local model. You keep your clients and control how you work, while Hightekers takes care of payroll, administration, and compliance.
Where to go from here
If you are choosing where to base your freelance work, expenses are one of the most concrete ways to compare setups. Explore the countries where Hightekers supports freelancers, and get a clear answer on how to claim tax relief before you commit.
Want to see what you could be reimbursed today? Get in touch with Hightekers and explore your options.
FAQ
Can you claim expenses as an umbrella company employee?
Yes, in most European markets. When an employment model employs you, it can reimburse genuine business costs, usually free of tax and social contributions. How much you can claim, and how, depends on the country you work in.
How are expenses treated under France's portage salarial?
Mission costs are rebilled to the client and reimbursed in full, while operating costs are deducted from your revenue free of income tax and social contributions, generally limited to 20 to 30% of gross monthly salary.
What can freelancers deduct in Spain?
Genuine business costs backed by an invoice, plus, under the common simplified regime, an automatic 5% of net income up to €2,000 without receipts. Business travel, per diem meals up to €26.67, and social security contributions are all deductible.
Is Belgium's lump-sum expense option worth using?
Often, yes. Belgium lets you deduct 30% of gross profit as a flat rate up to a cap, without itemizing, which suits freelancers whose chargeable expenses are modest or whose record-keeping is light.
Why are UK umbrella expense rules so much stricter?
Because of the 2016 supervision, direction or control rules, introduced to stop intermediary firms abusing the old system. The clampdown applied to everyone, so most UK umbrella workers can no longer claim travel and subsistence, unlike their continental counterparts.
