We’re not tax specialists, we’re wellbeing specialists! So please consult with your finance and tax teams in your local jurisdiction before proceeding with any employee benefits programmes.
We completely understand that creating an employee benefits programme can sometimes be daunting, especially when it comes to financing these benefits, whether that’s finding room in the budget or understanding what you can supply your team with tax-free.
Here at Juno, we don’t just make employee benefits simple and hassle-free, we also want to help you get the most out of your benefits, financially. That’s exactly why, in this article, we’re going to take a look at tax-free benefits you can offer your employees.
Tax-free benefits are a great way to provide your employees with wellbeing support without having to worry about the extra cost - it’s a win-win situation.
If you’re an HR manager or Head of People and you’re trying to get your wellbeing budget approved, take a look at our free guide to getting your budget proposal approved.
Tax-Free Benefits For Employees
Let’s take a look at just some of the tax-free benefits that are available to you as a UK-based company.
If you are in another part of the world please do check tax regulations and advice that’s specific to where your company is based: PWC is a useful resource for country-specific tax advice so you might want to take a look there!
Tax-Free Benefits: Health
Each employee within the UK is entitled to one tax-free medical check-up per year. Additionally, employees who may be at risk of ill-health for a particular reason are also entitled to one health-screening assessment per year.
Tax-Free Benefits: Financial and Pension Advice
Advice provided to your employees, related to both general financial issues, tax advice, and pensions, is tax-free up to £500 per employee per year.
Tax-Free Benefits: Counselling
The majority of counselling services provided to employees are tax-free. The type of counselling services offered is referred to as welfare counselling and must be available to all employees.
Tax-Free Benefits: In-Office Meals
Any meals that you provide your employees within your physical workplace are tax-free. These meals can be physically provided or in the form of meal vouchers - as long as they’re consumed in the physical workplace, it’s tax-free.
Tax-Free Benefits: Work From Home Allowance and Home Office Set-Up
If your employees work from home, you can provide them with £6 a week (from 6 April 2020) to cover home expenses (this doesn’t have to be proven), and you can also provide them with a home-office set-up, tax-free. This includes laptops, tablets, computers, and phones.
Tax-Free Benefits: Encouragement Awards
Encouragement awards, an award that is provided to employees as a form of recognition and (as the name suggests) encouragement, can be given to employees, tax-free. The maximum permitted amount for an encouragement award is £25. It’s important to note that these awards are not the same as financial benefit awards: these have a tax-free allowance of up to £5,000 but have additional conditions.
Tax-Free Benefits: Learning and Development
Providing your employees with learning and development opportunities, as long as it’s work-related, is tax-free. This tax-free allowance also includes related costs to the training, such as study resources and travel expenses.
Ready To Provide Tax-Free Benefits To Your Team?
If you’re ready to support your team with wellbeing benefits using Juno, book in to speak to one of our Employee Wellbeing Experts at a time that suits you to learn more.
To learn more about tax-free benefits, take a look at the government regulations and guidelines within your country. If you are a UK-based company please head to GOV UK for more information.
