Consumer vouchers: a controversial gift?
With the so-called Corona II law, the government introduced so-called consumer vouchers. A non-taxable benefit for workers, but subject to numerous limits and conditions.
What are the advantages of consumer vouchers?
First condition: the voucher is issued by the employer to an employee. The exemption does not apply to consumption vouchers granted to self-employed company directors.
If it meets all the conditions, the voucher is fully deductible for the employer and is not subject to tax or social security contributions for the beneficiary.
Initially, the intention was to issue vouchers only in paper form, but the law has in the meantime been adapted so that issuers of such vouchers can also offer consumption vouchers in electronic form.
Other conditions
Several conditions must be met in order to benefit from the advantageous tax and social security regime.
1. The consumption vouchers may not be granted as a replacement for or conversion of remuneration, bonuses, benefits in kind or any other advantage.
2. The grant must be provided for in a sectoral or company CLA or (and this will generally be the case) in an individual written agreement. Slightly different rules apply for civil servants.
3. The consumption vouchers may not be exchanged (partially or totally) for cash.
4. The voucher is issued in the name of the employee.
5. The consumption vouchers must be issued no later than 31 December 2020 and is valid until 7 June 2021.
Use
Consumption vouchers can only be used in certain establishments. The following are taken into consideration:
1. establishments belonging to the horeca sector;
2. retail businesses which have been forced to remain closed for more than one month;
3. recognised cultural establishments;
4. recognised sports associations.
The concept of retail businesses is more limited than one might think.
First of all, it refers only to shops that have been forced to remain closed for more than a month. A voluntary closure therefore does not count. Retailers who engage in e-commerce are excluded since the law requires the physical presence of the customer.
Finally, the business must be considered as a micro-company. According to current accounting standards, this implies that on the balance sheet date of the last financial year, no more than one of the following limits may have been exceeded :
1. number of employees employed on an annual average: 10 ;
2. annual turnover, excluding VAT: 700,000 euros; and
3. balance sheet total: 350,000 euros.
Maximum
Finally, another very important condition must be respected, namely the maximum amount of vouchers.
The face value of a consumer voucher may not exceed 10 euros, which is not really important for electronic vouchers. The maximum amount that an employer can grant to the same employee in the form of consumption vouchers is set at 300 euros.
Meal vouchers or culture vouchers that you as an employer grant are not taken into account. Furthermore, if your employee also receives consumption vouchers from another employer, you do not have to take them into account.
However, the consequences are not negligible if you exceed one of these limits: a paper voucher with a face value of more than 10 euros will not be eligible for exemption. If the maximum amount of 300 euros is exceeded, the exemption will be entirely lost. So not only for the part that exceeds 300 euros!
If the limit is exceeded, you, as the employer, must treat the vouchers as remuneration, so that the expense is still deductible as remuneration.
This consumption vouchers is the subject of controversy
During the parliamentary discussions, it had been pointed out that this bonus was intended to support people who had been temporarily unemployed, but also to thank those who, despite the pandemic, had continued to work. But the cost of this "bonus" was entirely borne by the companies, which may have been hit hard by the pandemic.
It is also regrettable that the validity period of consumer vouchers is rather limited (until 7 June 2021). During the second confinement, it is precisely the establishments in which the vouchers can be used that have again been closed for at least one month. As a result, anyone who received their vouchers in November was in any case unable to do much with them at that time.
