By providing food vouchers employers provide employees, with whom they have concluded labour contracts, and persons with whom contracts for the management of the company have been concluded, with funds for buying food, not included in their remuneration.
In the sense of §1, item 36 of the Additional provisions of the Corporate Income Taxation Act „Food Vouchers“ are a type of exchange papers provided through the employer to workers and employees, including those with whom contracts for the management of the company have been concluded, which are used as means of payment in restaurants, quick service restaurants and food retail establishments pursuant to a contract concluded with an operator.
Sometimes a person starts working for a particular employer after the beginning of the relevant calendar month or the labour contract of the person is terminated before the end of the relevant month.
In what amount are food vouchers provided in the case when employees have not worked for a whole month?
In this case, Art. 14, para. 4 of Ordinance No. 7 of 09/07/2003 on the terms and conditions for issuance and revocation of a permit to carry out activities as a food voucher operator and as an operator is applicable – “Each user who has received food vouchers is obliged to return the unused food vouchers to the employer upon termination of the employment contract or the contract for management of the company”.
Therefore, upon termination of the employment relationship, unused food vouchers should be returned.
In the event that the vouchers are provided upon the payment of the salary, the employee will not have anything to return, but should receive vouchers of a value that corresponds to the number of the days the employee had worked for during the respective month.
By analogy, it could also be assumed that, inasmuch as food vouchers are not due before the employment relationship was established, then when an employee started work after the beginning of the month, vouchers can be provided in an amount corresponding to the number of the days the employee has worked for.
The question regarding provision of food vouchers for the time in which the worker or employee uses a certain type of leave is also debatable.
Is it possible for the employer not to provide food vouchers to persons who are on maternity leave, sick leave or paid/unpaid leave?
According to the practice of the National Revenue Agency, the accessibility criterion requires that the amount of the social benefit is not bound and does not depend on the position held by the person, on the work results achieved by him, on the number of days the person worked for, on whether he is absent due to illness, or on other conditions set by the employer.
Therefore, if the employer provides food vouchers on the basis of the number of the days per month the employee worked for, excluding the persons who are on maternity leave, on sick leave or on paid/unpaid leave, the requirements for accessibility of the social benefit for all employed persons will not be met.
In order for the employer to benefit from the more favorable tax treatment provided for the so-called „social expenses provided in kind“, he must comply with the requirements of the Corporate Income Taxation Act. These conditions, among other things, provide that the social benefit is available to all workers and employees.
It should be borne in mind that whether the criterion of general accessibility of social benefits has been fulfilled depends on the type, nature and purpose of the latter.
In the practice of the NRA, it is assumed that there is no logic the right to use the enterprise’s recreational, sports or cultural facilities, for example, to depend on the number of the days employees worked for, because it is a principle right, resulting from the existence of the employment relationship. Such type of social benefits will fulfill the requirement of general accessibility if all employed persons can enjoy them by right.
The nature of other types of social benefits, for example those related to feeding (including food vouchers) or transport services from the place of residence to the place of work and vice versa, presupposes the presence of the relevant employed person at work, i.e. these benefits would fulfill their purpose if their receipt is consistent with the number of the days the employed persons worked for. The essence of these benefits implies a daily necessity for them. However, the provision of those benefits by the employer stems from the fact that the employed person spends actual time working.
Given the above, the tax authorities admit the possibility for employers to decide food vouchers to be provided on the basis of the number of the actual days the employed persons worked for (e.g. in proportion to the days the employed person worked for compared to the working days for the relevant month). However, in order to comply with the index for general accessibility of the social benefit, the provision of this benefit has to be based on a clear criterion – providing everyone with the same amount (i.e. to determine an amount per day for each day on which the employed person worked – e.g. in proportion to the days the employed person worked for compared to the working days for the relevant month) and on an equal basis – days on which the employed person actually worked. This criterion must be the same for everyone and be implemented in an act of the employer. This act should be brought to the knowledge of all workers and employees. This could be done as the employer issues an order with which every worker and employee should get acquainted with by signing that order.