End of year celebrations: exemption from gifts and vouchers up to 250 euros
In order not to be subject to social security contributions, gifts and vouchers awarded during the same year to an employee must in principle not exceed 5% of the monthly social security ceiling (i.e. 171 euros in 2021).
But due to the extension of sanitary measures, it was decided to increase the exemption ceiling for gift vouchers that can be given for the end of year celebrations from 171 to 250 euros. A measure intended to support the purchasing power of employees and the activity of shops.
Last year already, the ceiling was raised and even doubled altogether. This had led to the distribution of 150 million euros in additional gift certificates when the measure was announced quite late in December. URSSAF had, however, allowed companies to take advantage of it until the following January 31 by announcing that it would not question the application of the new ceiling for the allocation of gift certificates and vouchers for 2020. taking place until January 31, 2021.
The same tolerance should not apply this year. URSSAF has indeed announced on its site that gift vouchers must be given to employees no later than December 31. Further details should be provided shortly. If you wish to benefit from this new ceiling, you therefore only have a few days to do so.
Please note, certain conditions must be met in order for you to benefit from this exemption:
- gifts and vouchers should not be compulsory. In other words, it must not be an obligation that you fulfill under, for example, your collective agreement, a provision of the employment contract or even a custom;
- their attribution must not be discriminatory. The gifts you give must be attributed to all employees, or to a category of employees.
Note that there are special rules for read checks, disc checks and culture checks and food purchase vouchers.
End of year celebrations: possibility of paying a Macron bonus until March 31, 2022
Until March 31, 2022, you also have the option of offering your employees an exceptional bonus exempt from social charges. This involves concluding an agreement or taking a unilateral decision.
To this end, we suggest that you download a model agreement from our documentation ” Commented models for staff management ACTIV » :
This Macron bonus is limited to 1000 euros or 2000 euros depending on the situation (especially if you have less than 50 employees).
The exemption is however reserved for employees whose remuneration, during the 12 months preceding its payment, is less than 3 times the annual value of the minimum wage.
Find more details on this bonus in our article “Macron bonus: exemption conditions specified by BOSS”.
URSSAF press release of December 14, 2021
Press release from the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Recovery of November 24, 2021
