The use of meal vouchers, whether paper or in the form of electronic meal vouchers, is governed by the Labor Code and the Income Tax Act, and is a tax deductible expense for employers.
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The MLSA annually adjusts the amount of meal allowances on business trips. For next year, the new decree states that the basic meal allowance will increase from this year’s 108 crowns to 118 crowns. The value of the optimal meal voucher is also derived from the new amount, where both employers and employees will save the most on taxes and levies. In 2022, companies will deduct the most from taxes when they buy employees meal vouchers worth 150 crowns a day.
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“A significant increase in the optimal value of the meal voucher to 150 crowns gives companies the opportunity to improve employee remuneration under tax-advantaged conditions and to have an attractive benefit for recruiting new forces. This is especially true with regard to the situation on the labor market – on the one hand, the number of vacancies in the economy exceeds 340 thousand, and at the same time companies are in a situation where they have to make sure they behave as economically as possible in terms of remuneration, “said Aneta Martišková from Edenred.
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In some companies, they contribute to the catering of employees through the so-called catering flat rate. The daily limit for 2022 is 82.60 crowns. If the employer provides this or a lower amount for lunches, the employee does not pay any taxes or levies from it.
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“If the employer contributes a higher amount to the meal, everything above this daily limit is subject to both income tax and insurance premiums on the part of the employee,” added Martina Machová from Sodexo Benefity. As she further stated, the employee does not pay any taxes or insurance premiums and the tax burden is only on the side of the employer.
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Meal vouchers are still one of the most popular employee benefits. At the same time, together with the discounted company catering, they are the most widespread. According to data from the job portal Profesia.cz, more than 46 percent of employees receive them. In some industries, the share of this benefit is even higher – in banking 70 percent, in the pharmaceutical industry 67 percent, in customer support 62 percent, but in services only 22 percent or in tourism and gastronomic services only 17 percent.
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An average lunch for more than 150 crowns
However, many companies provide their employees with meal vouchers of less than the optimal amount. Representatives of the Up Česká republika and Edenred meal voucher companies agree that employees most often receive meal vouchers with a nominal value of CZK 100. However, this does not cover the average price of the lunch menu in Czech restaurants, the average amount of which, according to the Ticket Restaurant Card Index, was CZK 150.50 in November.
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“Less than 10 percent of our clients used the optimal tax value of the meal voucher, which amounted to 137 crowns in 2021,” added Petra Prchlíková from Up Czech Republic.
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According to Edenred, only less than a quarter of companies in the Czech Republic offer their employees a meal allowance of more than 120 crowns per day, above 130 crowns it is even only 13 percent.
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