A fiscally and socially beneficial employee gift in 2024
(for Belgium)

Employee gift

Gifts can be given on several occasions that are fiscally and socially beneficial for you as an employer as well as for your employee. Gifts are tax-free (for both the employer and employee) up to a certain amount.

1. Saint Nicholas, Christmas, Year end & birthday

On these occasions, you can give gifts of up to €40 inc. VAT per year and per employee (a total of €40, not €40 per occasion). This amount is 100% deductible for the employer and completely exempt for the employee, both from taxes and social security con­tri­bu­tions (exception: social security con­tri­bu­tions do apply to birthday gifts). The amount of €40 may also be increased by another €40 per dependent child. 
In addition, the VAT can be reclaimed if the value of the gifts is less than €50 exc. VAT.

Please note: for the gifts to be deductible, all employees must receive them.

2. Marriage & legal cohabitation

If one of your employees gets married or starts legally cohabiting, you can give them a gift of up to €245 inc. VAT. This amount is tax-free for both the employer and employee.

Please note: the VAT on marriage and legal cohab­i­ta­tion gifts cannot be reclaimed.

3. Seniority

There are two moments in an employee’s career when you can give them a tax-deductible seniority bonus:

• At 25 years of service (maximum 1 x the employee’s gross monthly salary inc. VAT, or maximum 1 x the average gross monthly salary incl. VAT in the company)
• At 35 years of service (maximum 2 x the employee’s gross monthly salary inc. VAT, or maximum 2 x the average gross monthly salary inc. VAT in the company)

Please note: the seniority bonus is exempt from social security con­tri­bu­tions but is not a deductible cost for the employer. In addition, the VAT on these gifts cannot be reclaimed.

4. Pension & early retirement

When an employee retires, you can give them a gift of up to €40 inc. VAT per full year of service. However, the total amount given needs to be at least €120 inc. VAT and no more than €1,000 inc. VAT. 

Retirement gifts are exempt from social security con­tri­bu­tions up to €1,000 inc. VAT. For taxes, there is no cap here, as long as you don’t go above €40 inc. VAT per year of service. In addition, the VAT on these gifts cannot be reclaimed.

5. Birth & special occasions

You can also give gifts on other special occasions, like the company’s anniver­sary or the birth of an employee’s child. The value of this gift should be ​‘low’ (maximum €50 inc. VAT). 

This amount is exempt for the employee but not for the employer. If the purchase value of the gift is less than €50, the VAT can be reclaimed in full.

6. Official honourable award

An official honourable award isn’t something that happens every day. It refers to an honourable award given to one of your employees by an external party.

• Examples include: a medal of honour or knighthood, a decoration, a laureate of labour…

A gift for an official honourable award may not exceed €120 inc. VAT.

Gifts can be given on several occasions that are fiscally and socially beneficial for you as an employer as well as for your employee.

Please note: all amounts are including VAT

Example

An employee is going to start legally cohabiting in 2024 and has two dependent children.

The employer has decided to give them gift vouchers for the following occasions in 2023: Saint Nicholas, Year End, marriage/​legal cohab­i­ta­tion and Christmas. The maximum amount the employer can give to remain exempt:

• €245 for legal cohab­i­ta­tion
• €40 + €80 (2 x €40 for dependent children) = €120 in total for Saint Nicholas, Year End and Christmas.

Total: €365 in gifts in 2024, deductible for the employer and exempt for the employee.

Gifts

Physical gifts

Build better rela­tion­ships with beautiful gifts for any occasion. Would your business partner/​employee prefer fragrant flowers, delicious chocolate or a sharing basket? You know best what to choose.

Score some extra points by per­son­al­is­ing your gift or its packaging. This way the lucky recipient will never forget who the gift was from. You can also add a message to thank, con­grat­u­late or give your employee or business partner a bit of a boost – turning it into a unique gift.

Gift cards

Trying to find a personal gift for everyone often seems like an impossible task. But it can be done. More and more companies are turning to gift cards that the employees or business partners can use to choose their own gift from a range of par­tic­i­pat­ing retailers. Gift cards also come with another benefit: they aren’t subject to VAT. For this reason, and the fact that employees get to choose for themselves, gift cards are becoming more and more popular each year.

A lot of retailers offer gift cards. The downside is that gift cards often have a limited validity and, as the giver, you are again choosing the gift on behalf of the recipient. To avoid that, consider using providers like Sodexo, Edenred, Monizze and Kadonation.

These companies offer gift cards redeemable at a range of affiliated partners so that every employee or business partner has plenty of choice when it comes to spending their gift card. This way, the recipient can choose the gift they really want.

Kadonation Gifts

At Kadonation, we even take it a few steps further. Firstly, we offer a range of physical gifts: brownies, drinks, flowers, cake, gift baskets… There’s something for everyone.

Secondly, we also have the Kadonation Gift Card that can be combined and split, and is redeemable at over 90 popular shops (such as Decathlon, Bol​.com, AS Adventure, Coolblue, Zalando, ZEB, Torfs…) and charities.

The gift voucher can also be completely customised with the recipient’s name, a personal message and your company logo or other branding. Our physical gifts can also be per­son­alised with a logo and/​or a personal message.

On top of that, we offer the ultimate choice concept: Kadonation Smile. The simplest way to give the freedom of choice. Together, we’ll put together a range of gifts to match your budget. The recipient can then choose their dream gift on a gift website that is completely per­son­alised with your logo, company colours and personal messages.

And of course, our gifts also meet all the conditions for you to get the most out of the legal conditions described in this blog.