Financial contribution to catering

From 1 January 2021, employers can provide employees with not only a non-monetary contribution to their meal costs (e.g. meal vouchers) but also with a financial contribution - the meal voucher allowance. The meal voucher allowance is tax-exempt for employees; this applies to the amount in question, which amounts to 70% of the upper limit of subsistence expenditures that are paid to employees as business trip compensation (a "business trip" is interpreted as travel lasting between five and 12 hours within a single working shift). In 2021, that amount is CZK 75.60. For employers, the contribution is deemed to be a taxable expense if the employee is present at the workplace for at least three hours during a shift.

With respect to certain ambiguities that have arisen regarding the meal voucher allowance, the General Financial Directorate has issued information answering the most frequent questions. We attach a brief summary below.

Combination of various forms of contribution

Every employee can avail himself of just one tax-advantageous means of using their right to receive a contribution to their meal costs. On the basis of a collective agreement or intragroup directive, it is possible to assign various forms of contributions to specific groups of employees.

Meal voucher allowance for people working on a contractual basis and executive directors ("jednatel")

The meal voucher allowances can be also provided to employees working on a contract basis (i.e. under a contract for work or an agreement on working activity) and to executive directors ("jednatel" in Czech) who work on the basis of an agreement on performing a function. The condition is that such persons must have their shifts defined in their contract and that their work attendance is recorded so that it is possible to prove that they have fulfilled the conditions for exemptions (in the case of employees) or tax deductibility (in the cae of employers).

Meal voucher allowance for work-from-home employees

The meal voucher allowance provided to employees working from home can be considered to be tax exempt, just like the allowance provided to employees working in offices. The employer must fulfil certain conditions in order to qualify for this tax exemption: (i) the employee's home should be defined as a place of work in his/her contract, and (ii) there should be some evidence that the employee works at least three hours per shift.

Meal voucher allowance in the case of a longer or shorter shift

If a shift is longer than eleven hours and the financial contribution would be double (i.e. CZK 151.20), then the employee's tax-exempt income would be only CZK 75.60, and the rest of the amount would constitute taxable income. For the employer, the whole amount would constitute a tax-deductible expense.
If the employee is present at his/her place of work, but only for a shorter period than the defined shift (for example, should he/she visit a doctor during working hours), then the financial contribution to meal costs would be exempt in the amount of CZK 75.60. However, if the number of working hours is less than three hours, then the meal voucher allowance would be a tax non-deductible expense for the employer.