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Fringe benefits are compensation for work provided to you by your employer in another form than money. The most typical fringe benefits include accommodation, meals, cars, mobile phones, bicycles and commuter tickets.
Your employer reports the fringe benefits to the Incomes Register. The information is transferred automatically to your pre-completed tax return. It is included in the sum total of the wage income reported by your employer.
The Tax Administration issues an official decision each year on the valuation of different fringe benefits. Fringe benefits are usually considered taxable income. However, fringe benefits are not subject to tax if your employer withholds from your wages a compensation that is no less than the value of the fringe benefit. Unlike other fringe benefits, bicycles and commuter tickets may be entirely exempt from tax.
If Tax Administration’s decision does not include a confirmed taxable value for a benefit you receive, the benefit is taxed at its fair market value. The fair market value can also be used in situations where the fair market value of the benefit is lower than the value confirmed in the Tax Administration’s official decision.
See the values of fringe benefits in the Tax Administration decision:
See what the different types of benefits include and how their value is determined.
If your employment contract entitles you to use a dwelling that is owned or rented by your employer, you are considered to receive an accommodation benefit. If your employer pays your rent for an apartment that you have rented yourself, this is not considered an accommodation benefit.
The value of the accommodation benefit consists of a fixed basic value and a value calculated per square metre. The values depend on the municipality of location and the area of the dwelling. If the dwelling is in Helsinki, the value of the benefit is also affected by its postal code.
In addition to the financial benefit gained from the accommodation itself, the value of the accommodation benefit includes the charges paid for water and, if the dwelling has central heating or electrical heating, the heating costs. Electricity costs other than heating are not included in the monetary value of the accommodation benefit.
If your employer provides you with a garage or a parking spot, you are considered to receive a garage benefit. However, a parking space at your place of work that you use during working hours is not considered a taxable benefit. The amount of the garage benefit depends on the location of the garage or parking spot and whether the garage is heated or not.
If your employer provides you with meals either free of charge or at a price lower than the going rate, you are considered to receive a meal benefit.
The employer can arrange a meal benefit in various ways: by providing a meal service at the place of work, making contracts with local restaurants or providing dedicated means of payment (lunch vouchers, application or payment cards).
Specific meal benefit values have been determined for the personnel of hospitals, schools, day care centres and other similar institutions. Hotel, restaurant and flight staff also have their own meal benefit values.
If you or your family have used a car or van provided by your employer for private purposes, you have received a car benefit. Private vehicle use includes commuting between home and work.
This benefit type may be unlimited or limited.
The monthly value of the car benefit consists of two parts:
The value of the car benefit depends on the car’s list price on its purchase date, the year when the car was first taken into use, accessories and driving power (e.g. whether the car is powered by gasoline or electricity).
In some cases, the calculated value of the car benefit may be reduced or increased. For example, if you have driven more than 30,000 km for work purposes during the year or if you have only driven a small number of kilometres for private purposes according to your driver’s log, there may be grounds for reducing the value. You can claim a reduction to the value of your car benefit on your pre-completed tax return in MyTax or by filing Form 50A Earned income and deductions. Read more about reducing the value of your car benefit in Instructions for filing the pre-completed tax return (under Tax deductions; Other deductions).
If the number of kilometres driven for private purposes is more than 18,000 km per year, the value of your car benefit may be increased.
If you charge your own car or a company car with limited car benefit at the workplace using electricity paid by the employer, it generates a taxable benefit for you starting in 2026. The value of the benefit is:
No benefit is generated if you have a company car with full car benefit.
In 2021–2025, the benefit was exempt from tax and included charging at public charging points, as well as at the workplace.
If your employer provides you with a telephone subscription, you are considered to receive a telephone benefit. However, you are not considered to receive a telephone benefit if your employer has only provided you with a phone device primarily for work purposes. Further, if you pay for your private calls yourself, you are not considered to receive the benefit.
The value of a mobile phone benefit is €20 in 2025–2026. It includes charges for domestic and international calls, text messages, multimedia messages, and data communications. If you use your mobile phone as a means of payment or to call premium-rate numbers, such as fundraiser or voting lines, these charges are not included in the benefit.
Your employer may provide you with subsidised commuter tickets for use in public transport for travel between your home and place of work. You do not need to pay tax on employer-subsidised commuter tickets if their total value is no more than €3,400. If you receive a tax-exempt bicycle benefit (up to €1,200), it is included in this amount.
Note that you cannot claim deductions for any commuting expenses for which you have received a tax-exempt employer-subsidised commuter ticket.
If you have a bicycle that is owned or leased by your employer in your personal use, you are considered to have a bicycle benefit.
In 2021–2025, the bicycle benefit is exempt from tax up to €1,200 a year.
Starting in January 2026, the bicycle benefit is taxable if you agreed on the benefit with your employer on or after 24 April 2025.
If you agreed on the bicycle benefit with your employer before 24 April 2025 and the order contract regarding the bicycle was also made before that date, then the bicycle benefit may be exempt from tax even after 1 January 2026. A leased bicycle is exempt from tax for the entire contract period but no more than five years after the benefit started. If the employer owns the bicycle, the benefit is exempt from tax for the period you agreed on before the benefit started but for no more than five years from the start.
Read more about the bicycle benefit (chapter 11, in Finnish and Swedish)
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