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.
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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.
