Tax treatment of food vouchers provided to only part of a company's staff
When food vouchers are provided to only part of a company's staff, the question arises as to how the vouchers should be taxed - only with tax on expenses under the Corporate Income Tax Act (CITA) or they are also subject to taxation according to the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA).
Documented social expenses provided in kind, which also include food voucher expenses, are taxed with a tax on expenses under CITA.
For the determination of specific expenses as social expenses provided in kind, the CITA regulates several criteria that must be met simultaneously:
- the reported expenses are social benefits according to the Labor Code;
- to be provided by a decision of the general meeting of workers and employees or by the management of the enterprise;
- the social benefits must be available to all workers and employees and to persons employed under a contract for management and control.
There is no provision of social expenses in kind when between the employer or the assignor and all workers and employees and the persons employed under a management and control contract there are monetary relationships in any form in relation to the received social benefits.
If all the criteria are met, food voucher expenses are subject to tax on expenses under CITA.
Providing food vouchers to only part of the staff does not meet the last criterion. Therefore, the food vouchers provided in this way are not subject to tax on expenses under the CITA. In this case, the food vouchers provided are rather related to the exercise of labor activity, they have the nature of additional labor remuneration and are subject to taxation in accordance with Art. 24, para. 1 of PITA.
