Fringe benefits, often called perks, are non-monetary remunerations for work, which the employee receives from the employer. Fringe benefits are considered to be taxable wage income from which tax must be withheld and social insurance contributions paid by the employer who issued the benefit.
Report fringe benefits every month with anearnings payment report. You can report them in a separate report or in conjunction with the payment of wages.
The employer reports to the Incomes Register the monetary value of the fringe benefit, which is typically its annually determined taxable value.
If a value has not been determined, the fair market value of the fringe benefit is used. ‘Fair market value’ refers to the actual expenses the employer had to pay in order to arrange the fringe benefit for the employee.
Always report with their own income types: interest benefit for a housing loan, car benefit, bicycle benefit, employer-subsidised commuter ticket
Always report the following fringe benefits with their own income types. These benefits may not be reported as a total sum with income type 317.
An interest benefit for a housing loan is established when the employer collects annual interest on a housing loan it has granted to an employee that is lower than the reference interest rate commonly used in the market.
“Reference rate” means the Euribor rate for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, or another reference rate that a bank generally uses when granting credit for its customers, such as the bank’s prime rate. This type of an interest benefit is handled as wages in taxation.
Reporting a benefit
Report the amount of the taxable interest benefit with income type 302 Interest benefit for a housing loan.
Withholding tax and reimbursement from employee
You can combine the amount you withhold on the benefit with all the other taxes withheld, and then enter the sum under the income type 402 Withholding.
If you collect a reimbursement for the fringe benefit from the employee, report the amount with income type 407 Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits. Do not subtract this amount from the amount that you indicate under income type 302.
Even if you collected an amount that exceeds the taxable value of the fringe benefit, the taxable value is still the maximum reimbursement that can be entered in the earnings payment report. This means that you cannot submit a report to the Incomes Register where the reimbursement would exceed the benefit itself.
A car benefit, often called company car, is established for an employee when the employer provides the employee or their family with a car that the employer owns or possesses, and allows its private use.
Reporting a benefit
Report a car benefit with income type 304 Car benefit. Fill in the following
the type of the benefit: either “limited car benefit” or “full car benefit”
the vehicle’s age group: A, B, C, or U.
If the vehicle’s expenses are based on a driver’s logbook instead of a fixed monthly value, enter the ‘Odometer reading’. Enter the private-use kilometres driven.
According to the Tax Administration’s official decision, you can indicate the number of kilometres by every pay period or, alternatively, on the last report for the year at the latest. If you do not receive information on the private-use kilometres until after the month when the benefit was available to the employee, you must make corrections to the submitted reports as necessary.
You must also indicate the vehicle’s emissions value if the tax value of the company car is reduced by virtue of it being a zero-emissions vehicle or a low emission vehicle. The value can be reduced if CO2 emissions are 0 to 100 g/km. Reports to be submitted in 2022 to 2025 the Incomes Register must contain the vehicles’ emissions ratings.
Withholding tax and reimbursement from employee
You can combine the amount you withhold on the benefit with all the other taxes withheld, and then enter the sum under the income type 402 Withholding.
If you collect a reimbursement for the fringe benefit from the employee, report the amount with income type 401 Compensation collected for car benefit. Do not subtract this amount from the amount that you indicate under income type 304.
Even if you collected an amount that exceeds the taxable value of the fringe benefit, the taxable value is still the maximum reimbursement that can be entered in the earnings payment report. This means that you cannot submit a report to the Incomes Register where the reimbursement would exceed the benefit itself.
A bicycle benefit, often called employer-provided bicycle, is established when the employer provides a bicycle for an employee for private use. The bicycle may be owned by the employer or acquired through a leasing agreement.
An employer-subsidised commuter ticket, often called employer-provided commuter ticket, is a personal public transport ticket provided by the employer to the employee for commuting between the employee's residence and place of work.
Report with their own income types or as a total sum: accommodation benefit, telephone benefit, meal benefit
Report the following fringe benefits with their own income types or as a total sum with income type 317 Other fringe benefit. When using income type 317, also report the Type of benefit.
An employee receives accommodation benefit when the employer provides the employee with an apartment owned or possessed by the employer, based on a lease relationship related to the employment, or as a benefit included in the pay.
Reporting a benefit
Report an accommodation benefit either
with income type 301 Accommodation benefit or
with income type 317 Other fringe benefit. When using income type 317, enter Type of benefit: Accommodation benefit.
Withholding tax and reimbursement from employee
You can combine the amount you withhold on the benefit with all the other taxes withheld, and then enter the sum under the income type 402 Withholding.
If you collect a reimbursement for the fringe benefit from the employee, report the amount with income type 407 Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits. Do not subtract this amount from the amount that you indicate under income types 301 or 317.
Even if you collected an amount that exceeds the taxable value of the fringe benefit, the taxable value is still the maximum reimbursement that can be entered in the earnings payment report. This means that you cannot submit a report to the Incomes Register where the reimbursement would exceed the benefit itself.
A telephone benefit, often called employer-provided telephone, is established for an employee when the employer pays the costs of the telephone subscription it has acquired and paid for the employee, even for the employee’s private use outside working hours.
Reporting a benefit
Report a telephone benefit either
with income type 330 Telephone benefit or
with income type 317 Other fringe benefit. When using income type 317, enter Type of benefit: Telephone benefit.
Withholding and reimbursement from employee
You can combine the amount you withhold on the benefit with all the other taxes withheld, and then enter the sum under the income type 402 Withholding.
If you collect a reimbursement for the fringe benefit from the employee, report the amount with income type 407 Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits. Do not subtract this amount from the amount that you indicate under income types 330 or 317.
Even if you collected an amount that exceeds the taxable value of the fringe benefit, the taxable value is still the maximum reimbursement that can be entered in the earnings payment report. This means that you cannot submit a report to the Incomes Register where the reimbursement would exceed the benefit itself.
Reporting a telephone benefit once a year
You can report a telephone benefit in advance for the entire year on the January earnings payment report in the following cases:
the beneficiary only receives the telephone benefit and no other income or other benefits are paid to the beneficiary in that year
the telephone benefit is not subject to earnings-related pension, unemployment, or accident and occupational disease insurance contributions
the telephone benefit is processed by payroll in one go.
Such a situation may occur if a telephone benefit has been given to a YEL or MYEL insured self-employed person or a shareholder, for example.
An employee receives meal benefit when the employer provides its employees with meals at a price below the fair value or completely free of charge. The benefit may take the form of a lunch voucher, plastic card, a mobile app or an employer-provided lunchroom.
The amount of meal benefit must be reported to the Incomes Register on a monthly basis, independent of the type of meal benefit.
Reporting a benefit
If you collect a reimbursement corresponding to the taxable value of the meal benefit from the employee
Always use income type 334 Meal benefit to report the meal benefit.
Leave the EUR amount blank.
Enter the additional information Reimbursement for a meal benefit corresponds to taxable value: Yes for the income type.
Do not use income type 317 and do not report the amount you collect from the employee under income type 407.
If you do not collect any reimbursement from the employee for the meal benefit, or if the reimbursement you collect is lower than the taxable value
Report the meal benefit either
with income type 334 Meal benefit or
with income type 317 Other fringe benefit. When using income type 317, enter the data item Type of benefit: Meal benefit.
Enter the EUR amount for the meal benefit.
Withholding tax and reimbursement from employee
You can combine the amount you withhold on the benefit with all the other taxes withheld, and then enter the sum under the income type 402 Withholding.
If you collect a reimbursement for the meal benefit from the employee that is lower than the taxable value of the benefit, report the reimbursement collected from the employee separately with income type 407 Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits. Do not subtract this amount from the amount that you indicate under income types 334 or 317.
Even if you collected an amount that exceeds the taxable value of the fringe benefit, the taxable value is still the maximum reimbursement that can be entered in the earnings payment report. This means that you cannot submit a report to the Incomes Register where the reimbursement would exceed the benefit itself.
Other non-monetary fringe benefits offered by employers include, for example the garage, motorcycle or boat benefit; life and pension insurance premiums treated as wages, other insurance premiums paid by the employer and not collected from the employee, a benefit resulting from a non-personalised gift voucher, and fringe benefits received by a person working as a seafarer.
If you opt for not reporting data separately for the accommodation, telephone and meal benefits, you can report them under this income type. If you have already reported them separately with their own income types, do not add the benefits to the total sum for this income type.
Reporting a benefit
Report these benefits as a total sum with income type 317 Other fringe benefit.
Always enter the Type of benefit data in connection with the income type to report what fringe benefits the total sum includes. Include one or more of the following: accommodation benefit, telephone benefit, meal benefit, or other fringe benefit.
Withholding tax and reimbursement from employee
You can combine the amount you withhold on the benefit with all the other taxes withheld, and then enter the sum under the income type 402 Withholding.
If you collect a reimbursement for the fringe benefit from the employee, report the amount with income type 407 Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits. Do not subtract this amount from the amount that you indicate under income type 317.
Even if you collected an amount that exceeds the taxable value of the fringe benefit, the taxable value is still the maximum reimbursement that can be entered in the earnings payment report. This means that you cannot submit a report to the Incomes Register where the reimbursement would exceed the benefit itself.
Correcting fringe benefits
If there are errors in the data you have reported, correct them as soon as possible after the error is discovered.
