Buoni carburante 2022

What's new in fringe benefits in the new economic context

by Emilio Veneziano

While awaiting the next steps of the new Italian Government regarding high energy and bills, driven by the new provisions on the matter, companies undertake to provide their employees with corporate welfare tools capable of supporting this difficult economic phase of the country and the Italian social fabric.

In particular, the legislative decree n. 21/2022, converted with amendments into law no. 51/2022, granted private employers the possibility of providing their employees with petrol vouchers or similar certificates for the purchase of fuel. The measure, aimed at combating the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the domestic economy, is exempt from taxation of up to €200 per worker.

WHAT ARE FRINGE BENEFITS AND WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM THEM

Definable as "compensation in kind", they are benefits that are provided - with the necessary differentiations based on the company, the role of the worker and the market context - by the company to one of its employees. This is a disbursement not in money but in the form of goods and services.

The legal source of the so-called fringe benefit is found in art. 2099 of the Civil Code which states that the collaborator can also be paid with "benefits in kind", i.e. not only in money. These benefits are provided ad hoc by the company, therefore they are found in the individual contract that the individual signs.

Usually the provision of benefits of this type is subject to various variables such as the size of the company, the role of the individual employee (top management) but also socio-economic context data. It is therefore no coincidence that the fuel voucher is returning right now, in this particular historical period, as a great point of attention for companies and employees.

EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS CONCERNED

As regards employers, the relief concerns employers who operate in the private sector, including public economic bodies, individuals who do not carry out a commercial activity and self-employed workers, provided they have their own employees. However, public administrations are excluded.

With regard to the specific category of employees receiving fuel vouchers, these are exclusively those who produce income from employment, with the exclusion, therefore, of individuals who are linked by collaboration contracts or in training.

To summarize:

HOW DO PETROL VOUCHERS FOR EMPLOYEES WORK?

As regards the object of the subsidy, these are the payments made by private employers to their employees for supplies of fuel for transport such as petrol, diesel, LPG and methane, including the charging of electric vehicles. These must be disbursements in kind, through legitimation documents, in paper or electronic format, with the exclusion of those in cash.

WAITSTAX: HOW MUCH DOES THE FUEL BONUS COST THE EMPLOYER?

From a fiscal point of view, the fuel bonus of €200 represents a further benefit compared to the general one already provided for by paragraph 3, art. 51 of the TUIR for goods sold and services provided to employees (exemption limit of €258.23 for each tax period). It follows that, in order to benefit from the tax exemption, the goods and services provided in the 2022 tax period by the employer to each employee can reach:

• a value of €200 for one or more fuel vouchers and
• a value of €258.23 for all other goods and services, including any additional fuel vouchers.

For taxation purposes, similarly to what is provided for goods sold and services provided whose overall value exceeds, in the tax period, €258.23, the fuel voucher, whose value exceeds, in the 2022 tax period, the threshold of €200, also contributes entirely to forming the income and not only for the excess portion.

From an accounting point of view, it is appropriate to count and monitor the two thresholds (€258.23 for the generality of the goods sold and services provided to employees and €200 for fuel vouchers) in a distinct way: any exceeding of the threshold set by each of the two regulations (respectively paragraph 3, art. 51 of the TUIR for the €258.23 and art. 2 of the law decree no. 21/2022 for €200) will result in the employee being subject to full taxation of the payments attributable to it.

Similarly to what is provided for payments subject to the limit of €258.23, those paid for fuel supplies which benefit from the exemption of up to €200 must also be payments in kind, with the exclusion of those in cash, for which the general principle remains applicable according to which any sum received by the employee in relation to the employment relationship constitutes employment income (with the exception of the specifically provided exclusions).

The fuel vouchers which, for the 2022 tax period, benefit from the exemption from the formation of income up to €200, can be paid by the employer also ad personam (therefore, not only to all employees or homogeneous categories) and without the need for prior contractual agreements.

The expanded cash principle also applies to fuel vouchers and the related exemption limit of €200: this means that it will be possible to provide fuel vouchers until 12 January 2023, benefiting from the relevant relief valid for the 2022 tax period, without prejudice to the fact that they can also be used subsequently.

ALTERNATIVE TO THE TAX-FREE PREMIUM

The possibility of providing vouchers as a replacement for tax-deductible performance bonuses at the worker's choice is permitted. Given the temporary nature of the facilitation regulations (the €200 exemption is, in fact, limited to the year 2022), these "replacement" vouchers for performance bonuses must be paid in the current year. In the aforementioned hypothesis, the provision of fuel vouchers must take place in "execution of corporate or territorial contracts", the possibility of applying the tax exemption of the bonuses (and their conversion into corporate welfare) in implementation of national collective labor agreements or contracts or individual agreements between employer and worker being excluded.

PENSION ASPECTS

Sebwell the law does not express itself on this point, it is believed that the value of the voucher, due to the harmonization of the tax bases, does not contribute to forming the income even for contribution purposes within the limit of €200.

DEDUCTIBILITY FROM BUSINESS INCOME

The cost associated with the purchase of fuel vouchers is fully deductible from business income, pursuant to art. 95 of the TUIR, provided that the provision of such vouchers is, in any case, attributable to the employment relationship and, for this reason, the related cost can be classified as inherent.

FRINGE BENEFITS AND CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY

The measurement of fringe benefits and, in particular, fuel vouchers, fully falls within the definition of corporate sustainability: the improvement of corporate welfare and worker well-being is in fact productive of positive medium-long term effects, increasing the company loyalty of the best employees and, in particular, acting as a good incentive to improve the efficiency of internal company processes.

Therefore, fuel vouchers will have a positive impact not only on the economic conditions of workers but also, indirectly, on the conditions of the company itself.