Decision on a temporary amendment of the Finnish Tax Administration’s decision on the valuation of taxable in-kind benefits to be applied in 2020

The Tax Administration introduces amendments to sections 11.2, 13.2, 14.1 and 14.2 of its official decision on the valuation of in-kind benefits (record number of the original decision in Finnish and Swedish: 1116/2019). The amended provisions are:

11 §

Delivery costs of the meals to the place where the employees eat, as described above in subsection 1, are not included in direct costs.

13 §

The valuation of a voucher or similar method of payment at 75% as described above in subsection 1 requires that employees only can use the voucher to pay for meals and meal delivery, i.e. they receive no money, food ingredients or other commodities when paying with the voucher. If the voucher does not fulfil these requirements, it must be valued at nominal value. An employee can only receive one voucher per actual working day in Finland, on the condition that the employer has not made any other arrangements regarding daily meals.

14 §

If arrangements have been made for the use of an electronic payment system for paying for the lunch or other meals, including delivery, so that the price is debited at the point of sale, the principle of valuation is 75 percent of the nominal value of the sum credited to the electronic device by the employer, and at least €6.80 per working day as defined below in subsection 3. This requires that the employer has credited at least €6.80 and at most €10.70 per meal, including delivery, to the electronic device, and also that separate records are available on the electronic payments made from the credit balance given by the employer, and on any amounts credited to the device by the wage earner. Otherwise, the taxable value of the employer-provided sum must equal its nominal value.

The valuation of the amounts of euros on a device at 75%, as described above in subsection 1, requires that employees can only use them to pay for meals and for the delivery of meals, i.e. they receive no money, food ingredients or other commodities. If these requirements are not fulfilled, the euro balance, provided by the employer, on the device, must be valued at its nominal value.

This decision goes into effect on 24 March 2020 and stays in effect until 31 August 2020.

This decision applies to the calculation of withholding taxes from 24 March 2020 to 31 August 2020 and to tax assessments for the same period.

In Helsinki, 24 March 2020