€1,000 a year, €2,000 with children: the fringe benefit limit for employee gifts in Italy
For 2025, 2026 and 2027 goods, services and vouchers given to an employee are tax free up to €1,000 a year, or €2,000 for an employee with dependent children who has declared them. Cross the line by one euro and the whole amount becomes income. Here is how the limit works, what counts towards it and how vouchers must be issued, with the Agenzia delle Entrate page for every figure.
How Italian tax law treats gifts to employees
The limit. Article 51(3) of the TUIR excludes goods and services given to an employee from income when their total value in the tax year does not exceed €258.23, and brings the whole value into income when it does. The Legge di Bilancio 2025 raised the limit to €1,000 for 2025, 2026 and 2027, and to €2,000 for employees with dependent children, and extended it to sums paid or reimbursed for household water, electricity and gas, rent of the main home and mortgage interest on it.
The conditions. The Agenzia delle Entrate's circolare 4/E of 16 May 2025 confirms that exceeding €1,000 or €2,000 brings the entire amount into income, not the part above the line. The €2,000 limit applies only if the employee declares the entitlement to the employer with the children's codice fiscale; a child is dependent with income up to €2,840.51, or €4,000 if aged 24 or under; both parents qualify in full; and benefits given to family members count towards the employee's cap. Where there is an RSU the employer informs it first.
Vouchers and gift cards. Benefits may be given as documenti di legittimazione with a nominal value: they must not be money, must not be usable by anyone else, monetised, transferred or topped up, and a single cumulative voucher may cover several goods within the limit. The Agenzia's risposta 189 of 2026 applies the same treatment to multi-use buoni spesa, within the limit in force for the year, for tax and for contributions. The limit is tested on every fringe benefit the employee receives in the year, vouchers included.
Above the limit, and 2026. Once exceeded, the full value is employment income taxed at ordinary rates through payroll, and social security contributions follow the same base. Welfare aziendale under article 51(2)(f) has its own rules and does not consume this limit. The Legge di Bilancio 2026 left the €1,000 and €2,000 limits as they are; the draft budget for 2027 approved by the Council of Ministers on 28 October 2026 would raise the limit to €2,000 for workers aged 30 or under, but it is a bill, not law.
This is general information as of 2026, not tax advice. Your consulente del lavoro or payroll provider decides how each gift is treated.
Three gifts, three payroll treatments
The same employee, one year, three decisions.
€300 of gifts and vouchers across the year
Within €1,000: nothing is income, provided every voucher is a nominal-value document that cannot be monetised or passed on. Payroll keeps a running total per person.
€1,100 for an employee with two declared children
Within the €2,000 limit, because the declaration with the children's codice fiscale is on file. Without the declaration the limit is €1,000 and the whole €1,100 would be income.
€1,050 for an employee without children
Over €1,000 by €50, so the entire €1,050 is taxed as income through payroll, with contributions on the same base. Planned at €950 it would have been tax free.
What Mojo Gift gives Italian payroll
A running total per person, so the limit is never crossed by accident.
Value and date per gift, per person
Every Mojo Moment is logged with recipient, value, occasion and delivery date, and exports in one file, so the year's total per employee is always known.
Values set to the limit at setup
Occasion values are agreed against €1,000, or €2,000 where the declaration is held, so December does not tip anyone over.
Non-cash by design
The recipient chooses an experience or a product, never cash, and the amount is never shown to them.
One programme, 190 countries
Colleagues outside Italy get the same programme, with the record their own country's payroll needs.
Built for the finance question
A programme that answers the payroll query before it is asked.
A record payroll can total
Limits planned per person
No expiry
A human concierge
Italian employee gift tax, answered
Is the fringe benefit limit €1,000 in 2026?
Yes. The Legge di Bilancio 2025 set €1,000 per employee per year for 2025, 2026 and 2027, and €2,000 for employees with dependent children who declare them. The Legge di Bilancio 2026 did not change it. The permanent figure in article 51(3) remains €258.23.
What happens if we go over by a few euros?
The whole amount becomes taxable income, not just the excess. An employee without children who receives €1,050 in the year is taxed on €1,050, with contributions on the same base.
What does the employee have to do for the €2,000 limit?
Declare to the employer that they are entitled to it, giving the codice fiscale of each dependent child. The form is free but must be kept. Where there is an RSU the employer informs it first. Both parents can use the €2,000 limit in full.
Are gift cards and buoni spesa allowed?
Yes, as documenti di legittimazione with a nominal value: not money, not usable by others, not monetisable, not transferable or rechargeable. A single cumulative voucher may cover several goods within the limit, and multi-use buoni spesa are treated the same way within the limit in force.
Do utility bills and rent count towards the limit?
For 2025 to 2027 sums paid or reimbursed for household water, electricity and gas, rent of the main home and mortgage interest on it count towards the same €1,000 or €2,000 limit as gifts and vouchers.
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.
Keep every person under the limit all year
Book a 30-minute call. We map your occasions to €1,000 or €2,000 per person and show the running record each gift carries.
Book a 30-minute call