Gifts for St Nicholas, Christmas and New Year

Gifts in kind, in cash or gift vouchers, are considered to be tax exempt benefits under the following cumulative conditions:

a) all staff members must receive the same benefit;

b) the vouchers must be awarded on the occasion of one or more festivities or annual events, such as Saint Nicholas's Day, Christmas, New Year, but also a festivity customary in the profession concerned (in particular Saint Eloi or Saint Barbara), a birthday, etc.;

c) the total amount awarded may not exceed EUR 40 per year and per employee, it being understood that on the occasion of Saint Nicholas's Day or another holiday of the same social nature, an additional annual amount of up to EUR 40 may be awarded for each dependent child of the employee;

d) the gift vouchers meet the following conditions:

• they may only be exchanged with companies that have concluded a prior agreement with the issuers of these payment vouchers;
• they must have a time-limited validity;
• they may not be paid in cash to the beneficiary, either in full or in part.

More generally, gifts in kind, cash or gift vouchers that have a modest value - set by the tax authorities at a maximum of EUR 50 per employee per year - and are awarded for an obvious social purpose are also considered tax-exempt social benefits, but are not in principle deductible (see the "deductibility" section).

If gifts in kind, in cash or gift vouchers do not meet the above conditions, they are considered, in principle for their full value, to be a taxable benefit.