The tax office softens its approach. You will include these expenses in your costs

Entrepreneurs employing colleagues on a self-employed basis may include expenses for additional benefits, such as medical, sports or insurance packages, in their tax-deductible costs. The condition, as recent tax office interpretations indicate, is to link these benefits to the remuneration of self-employed people.

Just a few years ago, the position of tax offices on this issue was ambiguous, but now the tax authorities are starting to develop a more predictable approach. According to information published by “Rzeczpospolita”, benefits must be formally treated as part of remuneration in order to be classified as tax costs.

Conditions for using discounts

Companies must also prove that the benefits granted have a positive impact on the quality of services provided. If additional benefits do not meet this criterion, tax offices refuse to recognize them as tax costs.

An example of such a situation was a negative interpretation regarding co-financing meals for self-employed colleagues. According to the tax office, such expenses did not have a direct impact on work efficiency and were not part of the remuneration.

What about expenses for refreshments?

A different approach applies to spending on coffee, fruit and snacks available in the office. As “Rzeczpospolita” emphasizes, the tax office allows such costs to be included in tax purposes, as long as they are available to the entire team, including the self-employed.

Experts remind us that appropriate documentation is crucial. Companies must precisely demonstrate that benefits are part of remuneration, which allows them to be included in tax costs. Without such justification, the entrepreneur risks rejection of the application by the tax office.

Tax interpretations indicate that the tax office is increasingly open to including benefits for the self-employed as tax-deductible costs, but these conditions require strict compliance.