Here's a change that happened quietly in the middle of 2025 and still catches people off guard: if you claim mileage for business trips by bicycle or motorcycle, the rate you're entitled to dropped by half partway through the year.
What Changed
| Vehicle type | Rate before 1 July 2025 | Rate from 1 July 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Car | €0.50/km | €0.50/km (unchanged) |
| Extra passenger | €0.15/km | €0.15/km (unchanged) |
| Motorcycle | €0.50/km | €0.25/km |
| Bicycle | €0.50/km | €0.25/km (capped at 3,000 km/year) |
Bicycle and motorcycle mileage briefly matched the car rate of €0.50/km — a generous incentive introduced to encourage sustainable commuting and business travel. That parity ended on 1 July 2025. The car rate stayed put; bicycle and motorcycle mileage dropped back to €0.25/km.
Why This Matters More Than It Looks
Because this happened mid-year, anyone tracking bicycle or motorcycle mileage for business trips across all of 2025 needs to split their logbook at the 1 July cutoff:
- Trips before 1 July 2025: claim at €0.50/km.
- Trips from 1 July 2025 onward: claim at €0.25/km.
Getting this wrong in either direction is a real risk — overclaiming at the old rate for post-July trips will be flagged on review, while underclaiming (using €0.25/km for pre-July trips) simply leaves money on the table.
The Annual Cap Also Matters
The bicycle mileage cap is 3,000 km per year. At the current €0.25/km rate, that's a maximum annual deduction of €750 — half of what it would have been at €0.50/km. If you're a frequent business cyclist, this cap plus the rate cut together mean roughly half the deduction ceiling compared to using the old full-year rate.
Where This Shows Up
This applies to two overlapping situations:
- Business travel away from your normal workplace (client visits, off-site meetings) — covered under general business-trip mileage rules.
- Work-related expenses claimed on your annual tax return as an employee, under the same reduced rate and cap.
Commuting between home and your regular workplace by bicycle is a separate matter, covered by the Pendlerpauschale rather than mileage rates.
For the complete picture of mileage, per-diem, and overnight allowances for business travel — including the unchanged car rate and foreign per-diem tables — see our full guide: Business Travel and Mileage Allowances in Austria.