Beloved and hated meal vouchers

Are you under the impression, thatyou read about the change in the meal allowance too often? It is not just a feeling. In 2023, the amount of the meal allowance was increased 3 times, the last time 11 months ago. This time, the adjustment of the amount of the meal allowance will be effective 1 September 2024. Time is high to pay attention to it.

If you do not normally deal with the topic of meal allowance and personnel costs, it can seem complicated. So let’s start from the beginning.

Every employer is obliged to provide meals for an employee, who has worked at least 4 hours on a given day. It is not an optional benefit, but a necessity. However, the employer has a choice whether to provide the meal or contribute to the meal. If the employer decides to contribute, the form of contribution is already the choice of the employee. They can choose between a meal voucher (also in electronic form, i.e. a card) or a financial contribution, and have the right to change their preference once every 12 months. Did you know that paying out a financial allowance is the newest way of providing the meal allowance? It was only added in 2021.

Employers are not happy about the obligation to provide meal allowances upfront, so that the employee already has a meal contribution or a meal voucher available on the day of joining. In practice, this means that you are sending money or charging a meal card to someone who has not started the job yet, or who started a few minutes ago. There are various ways to address this, but none of them are ideal.

Now let’s have a look at the amounts of the meal allowances. Some find it confusing that even if the employee does not travel anywhere, the subject of meal vouchers always deals with meal allowance during a business trip,. The reason is that the amount of the daily meal allowance is firmly linked to the meal allowance for the business trip. Specifically, the value of the “per diem”, i.e. the meal allowance for a domestic business trip, determines the minimum value of the meal voucher. In turn, meal allowances for domestic business trips increase due to rising prices of food and beverages. How does this chaining work?

Starting from 1 September 2024, the amount of the meal allowance for a business trip of 5 to 12 hours is EUR 8.30 per day. 75% of this amount represents the value of the meal voucher, i.e. EUR 6.23 per day.

The employee receives a value of EUR 6.23 if they choose the form of a meal voucher or a card. The value of the meal voucher then consists of the employer’s contribution, the employee’s contribution and often also a contribution from the Social Fund. Here comes another compulsory percentage, namely 55% of the amount of EUR 6.23 – this is the minimum amount that the employer has to cover from the value of the meal voucher – from 1 September 2024 it will be EUR 3.43. If the employer wants to, it can cover the entire amount of the voucher, without the employee’s contribution. However, then the employer encounters another number – the maximum statutory employer’s contribution of EUR 4.57. Although the employer can contribute above this amount, it will not be able to claim the costs above EUR 4.57 as tax deductible.

If the employee chooses a financial contribution to an account, they will receive at least EUR 3.43 per day from the employer. The employer must contribute the same amount to the employee’s meal voucher as in cash, regardless of the amount of the contribution. The employer should also time the provision of allowances so that employees receive the funds at the same time, regardless of the form of provision.

Change in the amount of the meal allowance, which will come into force from 1 September 2024. The amount of the contribution from an employer that provides employees with meal vouchers or a financial contribution for meals varies as follows: