As part of an initiative by the German tax office (Bundesfinanzamt), employers can subsidize various work related things. Food is one of the most sensible choices: everyone has to eat and everyone likes saving money on it.
Per day, companies can subsidize 6.67 EUR per employee and day. This way up to 200 EUR monthly can be invested in each team member without additional social or income tax on top. With little effort and costs, both employers and employees will benefit from food subsidies!
Since we didn't want you to get lost in German finance documents, we made an accessible guide for you to understand all possible benefits in kind and gifts that can be granted tax-free:
Easy - subsidized meals are a simple solution for companies wanting to raise employee satisfaction and retention. Having the optimal work break with affordable lunch will also improve the productivity of your team. Plus, food subsidies are the only benefit that can be used by every employee equally. That's why making a healthy lunch option more affordable for your team will have great impact.
Joined lunches are also proven to bring teams together, promote healthy eating and boost up those brain cells after the break.
And the best thing? Food subsidies can be granted in addition to other benefits in kind such as services or gifts. With perks becoming more and more important to employees, companies can use a variety of possibilities to stick out and make employees happy.
Every year, the value for benefits in kind is reassessed by the German tax office (Finanzamt). Since retail prices are used as guidelines, the value has continuously been raised in past years and can be expected to follow this trend. While the food subsidy value in 2009 was 5,83 EUR per lunch, in 2022 it has been raised to 6,67 EUR per day and employee.
This value for meal subsidy is made up of these components:
Lunch / Dinner
1. Non-cash remuneration value
2. Additional employer payment
(3. optional employee supplementary payment)
Breakfast
1. Non-cash remuneration value
2. Additional employer payment
(3. optional employee supplementary payment)
Employers can pay € 3.10 any meal, without additional social or income tax. The non-cash remunerations value for food subsidies is equal to the minimum amount that employees have to pay to the meals themselves to take full advantage of tax breaks.
If less than 3.57 EUR is paid by them, employers have the choice to pay a lump-tax of 25 % in order to avoid social taxes completely. If both non-cash remuneration and supplementary payment are paid, both sides will benefit.
Food subsidies do not necessarily have to be linked to a company owned canteen, but can be granted in a multitude of ways. Companies can even save on sales taxes (Umsatzsteuer) if no service is included in the meal, as there would be with any sit-down meal in restaurants and canteens. Nonetheless, canteens outside of the office, restaurants, food stamps and even ready-to-serve meals from supermarkets are allowed to be subsidized without social or income tax.
Read more about which regulations should be considered to receive food subsidies!
Spare yourself time-consuming gathering of paper vouchers and receipts. The tax office allows digital food vouchers to be used when buying meals and accepts digital receipts. For that, certain apps or delivery services like Smunch will make using food subsidies easier.
Learn more about digital food vouchers and delivery services that include tax breaks!