Submitting reports to the Incomes Register on workers’ fringe benefits

This benefit arises when the worker or his or her family member is granted the right of private use of the employer's motor vehicle.

Enter the data under 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 worker, 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.

If you collect an amount of money from your worker for the company car, indicate the amount under 401 Compensation collected for car benefit. Do not subtract this amount from the tax value that you indicate under 304 Car benefit. If you collect an amount higher than the current tax value, the maximum amount to indicate under 401 is still the tax value. This means that you cannot submit a report to the Incomes Register where the company-car’s reimbursement would exceed its tax value.

This fringe benefit arises when the employer gives workers personal tickets for mass transit for commuting between the worker’s home and place of work.

To enter the tax-exempt part, use 341 Employer-subsidised commuter ticket, tax-exempt share and correspondingly, use 342 Employer-subsidised commuter ticket, taxable share for entering the amount deemed as wages and thus subject to tax. Employers must include this fringe benefit in the earnings payment report although no taxable benefit value were to emerge.

Under the tax rules, the employer-subsidised commuter ticket is tax-exempt up to €3,400. If the worker has both the tickets and a bicycle as a fringe benefit, their combined tax-exempt parts can maximally reach €3,400 per calendar year.

If you collect reimbursement, indicate it under 415 Reimbursement for employer-subsidised commuter ticket. Enter the entire amount you collect, even if it is higher than the part deemed as wages and thus subject to tax. You must subtract the amount you collect from the amount deemed as wages and subject to tax. If there is no amount deemed as wages to subtract it from, you must subtract it from the tax-exempt part. The 342 and 341 codes for type of income are for the remaining difference i.e. for the remaining tax values of the benefits.

For more information, see guidelines and examples in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: fringe benefits and reimbursements of expenses under 1.1.2 Employer-subsidised commuter tickets.

This benefit arises when the worker is granted the right of private use of the employer's bicycle.

To enter the tax-exempt part, use 363 Bicycle, tax-exempt share and correspondingly, use 364 Bicycle, taxable share for the amount deemed as wages and thus subject to tax. Employers must include this fringe benefit in the earnings payment report although no taxable benefit value were to emerge.

Under the tax rules, the fringe benefit in the form of a bicycle is tax-exempt up to €1,200. If the worker has both the bicycle and commuter tickets as his or her fringe benefit, their combined tax-exempt parts can maximally reach €3,400 per calendar year. This means that you must subtract the bicycle’s tax-exempt part from the commuter tickets’ maximum tax-exempt amount.

If you collect reimbursement, indicate it under 420 Reimbursement collected for bicycle benefit. Enter the entire amount you collect, even if it is higher than the part deemed as wages and thus subject to tax. You must subtract the amount you collect from the amount deemed as wages and subject to tax. If there is no amount deemed as wages to subtract it from, you must subtract it from the tax-exempt part. The 364 and 363 codes for type of income are for the remaining difference i.e. for the remaining tax values of the benefits.

If you give your worker this fringe benefit and simultaneously reduce his or her wage amount paid in cash, see guidelines and examples in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: fringe benefits and reimbursements of expenses under 1.1.3 Bicycle benefit.

This fringe benefit arises when the employer collects annual interest on a housing loan below 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 banks generally apply in their lending business, such as the bank’s prime rate. For tax purposes, reduced interest costs for the worker make up a fringe benefit, accounted for in the same way as payments of wages are.

Indicate the amount of the benefit under Interest benefit for a housing loan (302).

This benefit arises when the worker can live in a house/apartment that the employer owns or has otherwise arranged for. The worker’s right to live there can be based on the employment contract’s nature, or it can be agreed as being part of the worker’s pay.

Indicate the fringe benefit’s tax value under 301 Accommodation benefit or under 317 Other fringe benefit.

If you opt for the 317 Other fringe benefit income type, you must also fill in the Type of benefit: Accommodation benefit. If you, the employer collect reimbursement from the worker, indicate it under 407 Reimbursement for other fringe benefits.

This benefit arises when the employer pays the costs of the telephone subscription it provides, also paying for the worker’s private use outside working hours.

Indicate the fringe benefit’s tax value under 330 Telephone benefit or under 317 Other fringe benefit.

If you opt for the 317 Other fringe benefit income type, you must also fill in the Type of benefit: Telephone benefit. If you collect reimbursement, indicate it under 407 Reimbursement for other fringe benefits.

If the income earner only has a telephone benefit, you can report the telephone benefit in advance on the January report for the entire year in one go according to how the benefit has been processed in the payroll calculation, if

• no other income is paid or no other benefit given to the person and
• the telephone benefit is not subject to earnings-related pension, unemployment, or accident and occupational disease insurance contributions.

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.

This benefit arises when the employer has made arrangements for the workers to eat meals at a price below market prices or completely free of charge. The benefit may take the form of a lunch coupon, plastic card, a mobile app – or an employer-provided lunchroom. Regardless of the practical arrangements that you have chosen, your monthly earnings payment reports to the Incomes Register must indicate the tax values of the meals.

Use either the 334 Meal benefit or the 317 Other fringe benefit codes for income types. If you opt for the 317 income type, you must also fill in the Type of benefit: Meal benefit.

Your workers pay a reimbursement equal to the meals’ tax value

If you collect reimbursement for the meals and the amount equals tax value, you must invariably use 334 Meal benefit and tick Yes for Reimbursement for a meal benefit corresponds to taxable value.

In this case, do not give an amount in euros as the meal benefit’s tax value. In the same way, do not use the 317 Other fringe benefit code, and do not enter the amount your workers pay you under 407 Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits.

Your workers pay a reimbursement but it is lower than the meals’ tax value

If it is your policy to collect reimbursement but the amount stays below tax value, first indicate the full tax values either under 334 Meal benefit or under 317 Other fringe benefit, then fill in Type of benefit: Meal benefit.

For both of the above two variants, enter the amount your workers pay you under 407 Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits. Enter the full tax value of the meals, and correspondingly, enter the worker-reimbursed amount as the amount collected. Although you receive reimbursement, which reduces the meal benefit’s tax value, you must still indicate the full tax values of the meals. In other words, do not subtract the collected amount from the tax value.

If the meals are treated as being a meal offered to an intern, or a meal involving “meal subsidy” payments, see guidelines and examples in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: fringe benefits and reimbursements of expenses under 1.2.3 Meal benefit.

If you opt for not entering data separately for accommodation, telephones and meals, you can enter them under the 317 Other fringe benefit code as a combined total sum. In this case, you must inform the Incomes Register of what fringe benefits are included in the total.

Accordingly, include one or more than one of the following under the Type of benefit data element: accommodation, telephone, meal benefit, or other fringe benefit.

Select Other benefits if the fringe benefit falls under one of the following categories: employer-provided garage, motorcycle or boat; life and pension insurance premiums treated as pay, other insurance premiums paid by the employer and not collected from the worker, a benefit resulting from a non-personalised gift card, and fringe benefits received by a person working as a seafarer.

If you collect reimbursement, indicate it under 407 Reimbursement for other fringe benefits. Do not subtract the amount you collect from the fringe benefit’s tax value. Instead, indicate the full tax value.

This means that the fringe benefit must be reported in full, even when the worker has paid a reimbursement equal to the tax value of the benefit, with no remaining amount subject to tax. Even if you had collected an amount that exceeds the tax value of the fringe benefit, the tax value is still the maximum reimbursement to enter in the earnings payment report.