Context

As you may know, a Royal Decree of 30 June 2006 (*) provides for a conditional social security tax exemption for employer provided sport/culture vouchers effective 1 July 2006.

News

According to informal contacts with the tax authorities, the income tax treatment of such sport/culture vouchers might be aligned to their social security tax treatment, i.e. they might be exempt as employment benefits – “avantages sociaux/sociale voordelen” – subject to the following conditions:

-the vouchers are provided under a collective labour agreement or an individual labour agreement; and
-the name of the employee and the validity period (up to 15 months) are mentioned on the vouchers; and
-the total amount granted in one year amounts to maximum EUR 100; and
-the vouchers may not replace any kind of remuneration and cannot be converted into cash; and
-the vouchers can only be used with respect to certain approved “cultural operators” and cannot be used to buy goods.

The sport/culture vouchers will additionally qualify amongst the employment benefits that, as an exception, are deductible from the employer’s taxable profits.

The income tax treatment of sport/culture vouchers is expected to be clarified in an upcoming administrative practice note.

(*) http://news.hrservices.be?lk200611061