How is the tax-free and flat-rate taxed amount divided when calculating the meal allowance?

Your company can subsidize your employees' daily meals up to €7.67 per day for 15 days per month. Of this amount, €4.57 is taxed at a flat rate of 25%, leaving €3.10 tax-free.

What happens if more or less than €7.67 is submitted? 

Case 1 - the submitted amount is less than €7.67:

If employees submit less than €7.67, the flat-rate taxed amount of €4.57 remains. The remaining amount is tax-free.

Example: Submitted amount = €6.50. The flat-rate taxed amount is €4.57, and the tax-free portion is €1.93 (€6.50 submitted amount - €4.57 flat-rate tax).

Case 2 - The submitted receipt exceeds the maximum amount of €7.67:

If employees submit an amount higher than €7.67, the flat-rate tax of €4.57 is reduced by the difference between the maximum reimbursement and the submitted amount. For receipts of €12.24 or more, no flat-rate tax is applied; the entire amount of €7.67 is tax-free.

Example 1: Submitted amount = €8.50. The difference between the maximum reimbursable amount and the submitted amount is €0.83 (€8.50 - €7.67). The flat-rate taxed amount of €4.57 is reduced by this difference, i.e., €4.57 - €0.83 = €3.74. Thus, €3.74 is subject to flat-rate tax, and €3.93 is tax-free.

Example 2: Submitted amount = €15. The entire maximum amount of €7.67 is tax-free; no flat-rate tax is levied.


The source is § 8 Abs. 2 S. 6 EStG ; R 8.1 Abs. 7 Nr. 4 LStR ; sowie §2 Abs. 5 SvEV