How employee gifts are taxed in eight European countries
The tax-free line for a gift to an employee is £50 in the UK, €1,500 a year in Ireland, €50 a month in Germany, a share of the wage bill in the Netherlands, €40 in Belgium, €200 in France, €1,000 in Italy and nothing at all in Spain. Each country page below gives the rule, what happens above it and the official source for every figure.
The line in each country, and what crossing it costs
United Kingdom and Ireland. In the UK a gift is a trivial benefit when it costs £50 or less, is not cash, is not a reward for work and is not contractual; at £50.01 the whole gift is taxable, and most employers settle larger or performance gifts through a PAYE Settlement Agreement with Class 1B National Insurance at 15%. In Ireland the Small Benefit Exemption allows five non-cash gifts a year worth €1,500 in total, counted in the order given and reported to Revenue on or before the day; a single gift over €1,500 is taxed in full.
Germany and the Netherlands. In Germany benefits in kind are untaxed up to €50 a month, a gift for a personal occasion is a courtesy up to €60, and the employer can pay a flat 30% on anything larger under section 37b. In the Netherlands gifts go through the werkkostenregeling: a free space of 2% of the first €400,000 of the wage bill and 1.18% above it in 2026, an 80% levy on the excess, and a €25 personal attention that is not wages at all.
Belgium and France. In Belgium only named occasions are exempt from social security contributions: €40 per employee per year at the year end plus €40 per child, €245 for a marriage, €40 per year of service at retirement, and the limit is all or nothing. In France URSSAF exempts €200 per employee per year in 2026; above that each gift must match a listed event, a matching use and 5% of the monthly ceiling per event.
Spain and Italy. Spain has no small-gift exemption: a cesta de Navidad or a gift card is retribución en especie with an ingreso a cuenta, reported on modelo 190. Italy exempts fringe benefits up to €1,000 a year for 2025 to 2027, €2,000 for employees who declare dependent children, and brings the whole amount into income once the limit is crossed.
This is general information as of 2026, not tax advice. Each country page links to the official source for every figure, and your payroll provider or accountant decides how each gift is treated.
How one programme runs across eight sets of rules
The rules differ; the record each gift needs is the same.
Map the occasions per country
Welcomes, birthdays, anniversaries, the year end and retirements, listed per country your people are employed in, with the local rule next to each.
Set the values to each country's line
£50 in the UK, €60 for a German birthday, €40 for a Belgian Christmas, €200 across the French year, a running total under €1,000 in Italy. Larger awards are planned as taxable from the start, with the employer-paid route where one exists.
One record per gift, for every payroll
Recipient, value, occasion, date and country, exported in one file. Irish payroll reports it the same day, Dutch payroll shows the designation, UK payroll totals the PSA, Spanish payroll fills modelo 190.
What Mojo Gift gives a multi-country payroll
The same four things in every country.
A record per gift
Recipient, value, occasion, delivery date and country, generated when the gift is issued and exported in one file.
Values planned per country
Occasion values agreed at setup against each country's rule, so the year is planned rather than reconstructed.
Non-cash by design
The recipient chooses an experience or a product, never cash, and the amount is never shown to them. Each country's payroll decides how it is classified.
190 countries, one invoice
The same programme for colleagues anywhere, invoiced in EUR, GBP or USD, with gift value funded at face value.
Built for the finance question
A programme that answers the payroll query before it is asked.
Official sources, linked
Values that respect each limit
No expiry
A human concierge
Employee gift tax across Europe, answered
Which country has the most generous tax-free gift rule?
Ireland, at €1,500 a year across five non-cash gifts, followed by Italy at €1,000 a year for 2025 to 2027 (€2,000 with dependent children). Germany allows €50 a month plus €60 per personal occasion. The UK's £50 applies per gift with no annual cap for employees. Spain has no exemption at all.
Why is the whole gift taxable in most countries once the limit is crossed?
Most of these rules are limits rather than allowances: the UK trivial benefit, the German €50, the Irish €1,500 per gift, the Belgian occasions and the Italian €1,000 all bring the full amount into tax when exceeded. The exceptions are the UK long service award, the Belgian marriage gift and the Dutch free space, where only the excess is taxed or levied.
Are gift cards treated as cash?
It depends on the card and the country. A card that can be exchanged for cash, used to withdraw money or topped up is cash in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy. A card usable only for goods or services can qualify in those countries under conditions. In the Netherlands a voucher is never a personal attention but can sit in the free space. In Spain it is taxable either way.
How often do these amounts change?
Rarely for the statutory ones: the UK £50 dates from 2016, the German €50 from 2022, the Belgian amounts from 2018. The French threshold moves every January with the social security ceiling (€196 in 2025, €200 in 2026), the Dutch free space is set in each budget (2.16% from 2027) and the Irish and Italian limits are time-limited: 2029 and 2027 respectively.
Does Mojo Gift give tax advice?
No. These pages set out the rules from official sources as general information. Every Mojo Moment carries its recipient, value, occasion, date and country, and your payroll provider or accountant applies the rule in each country.
What does Mojo Gift cost, and does it decide whether a gift is taxable?
€25 per Mojo Moment per year, from 50 Moments (€1,250 a year), £25 for UK-billed programmes, invoiced in EUR, GBP or USD; gift value is funded on top at face value. One-off campaigns are €6,250 per 250 Moments. Mojo Gift does not decide the tax treatment: each gift carries its recipient, value, occasion, country and date, and your payroll provider or accountant applies the rule.
One programme, eight sets of rules, one record per gift
Book a 30-minute call. We map your occasions to each country's line and show the record every gift carries for payroll.
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