Will there be the expected change in mileage rates?

The current mileage rates were established in 2007. It has therefore been several years since there has been no change in this matter. How does this relate to reality? The operating costs of passenger vehicles are growing every year. Will there be a change in mileage rates? Let's check it out!

Change in mileage rates in line with operating costs

At the beginning of 2007, a liter of Pb 95 gasoline cost about PLN 4.10. From then on, the price fluctuations were very large. In 2013, the price per liter of gasoline increased significantly and amounted to as much as PLN 5.75. So there was an increase of 40% and the mileage rates were still at the same level.

The Motor Transport Institute, estimating the operating costs at that time, confirmed that the applicable rates do not correspond to the actual costs incurred by employees and individual entrepreneurs in order to use a private car for official duties.

For this reason, the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy started work on establishing new rates that would allow for real reimbursement of costs for using private cars for business purposes. However, no change has taken place so far. In recent years, fuel prices have changed again. A certain dependence could be observed - the increase in prices took place mainly during the holiday season, i.e. during increased travels. In summer, for 1 liter of Pb 95 you had to pay about PLN 5.50. As of December 2015, these prices decreased and amount to approx. PLN 4.40 per liter.

As for the remaining operating costs, i.e. repairs, parts, various types of fluids and oils, the costs do not change so drastically.

Current mileage rates

Currently, mileage rates for passenger cars are as follows:

• PLN 0.5214, when the engine's displacement is up to 900 cm3,

• PLN 0.8358 when the engine's displacement is over 900 cm3.

It has been noticed that over the last ten years there have been changes in the structure of cars used by Poles. This was also confirmed by the ITS analysis, showing that the use of cars with an engine capacity of up to 900 cm3 is not as popular anymore. Thus, a wider group of Poles use the higher rate in the vehicle mileage records.

Change in mileage rates - is it real?

From 2012, there were information about plans to increase the mileage rates, which were to be PLN 0.97 per 1 km for a passenger car with an engine capacity of up to 900 cm3 and PLN 1.01 for cars above this engine capacity. Unfortunately, this project got stuck in the Ministry of Finance, which had no budgetary capacity to update the rates so far. Also at the beginning of 2015, the Ministry of Finance claimed that the change was not possible due to the imbalance of public finances and the size of the deficit.

So, will there be such a long-awaited change in mileage rates in 2016? Unfortunately, nothing announces this at the moment.