There is no tax-free gift in Spain: how a cesta de Navidad or a gift card is taxed
Spanish law has no small-gift exemption. A Christmas hamper, a gift card or an anniversary present is retribución en especie: the employer makes an ingreso a cuenta, reports it on modelo 190 and includes it in the Social Security base. That is workable when every gift carries its value and date. Here is the rule, with the BOE and the tax authority's own pages linked.
How Spanish tax law treats gifts to employees
Everything from employment is income. Article 17.1 of the Ley del IRPF counts all consideration from employment, in cash or in kind, as rendimientos del trabajo, and article 42.1 defines a benefit in kind as the free use or receipt of goods, rights or services for private purposes. There is no de minimis amount. The tax authority's binding ruling on the cesta de Navidad says it plainly: a December hamper is retribución en especie covered by none of the exemptions in article 42, so the employer makes an ingreso a cuenta on it.
What the exemptions in article 42.3 are, and are not. The exempt benefits in kind are specific: meal vouchers up to €11 per working day, nursery for employees' children, health insurance up to €500 per covered person, collective transport up to €1,500 a year, and company shares up to €12,000. None of them is a gift exemption, and a gift card for general spending fits none of them.
Valuation, who pays, and the Social Security base. A gift is valued at market value and the employer makes an ingreso a cuenta at the employee’s withholding rate. If the employer bears that payment rather than passing it on, the amount is added to the employee's taxable income (article 43.2). Both the value and the ingreso a cuenta are reported per recipient on modelo 190. For Social Security the base de cotización is total remuneration in cash or in kind, with in-kind items at the employer's cost and vouchers at face value; gifts are not on the excluded list.
Custom, and 2026. Company custom matters for one thing only: the tax authority accepts the company's own deduction of Christmas hampers when they form part of the usos y costumbres of the company. It does not change the employee's tax. No 2025 or 2026 law has amended articles 42 and 43 or the €11 meal voucher figure.
This is general information as of 2026, not tax advice. Your asesoría or payroll provider decides how each gift is treated.
Three gifts, one treatment
Spain is the simple case: every gift goes through payroll. The work is in the record.
A €60 cesta de Navidad
Retribución en especie valued at €60. Payroll makes an ingreso a cuenta at the employee's withholding rate, adds the value to the cotización base and reports both on modelo 190. If the company bears the ingreso a cuenta, that amount is income too.
A €100 gift card for a work anniversary
The same treatment. Whether the card counts as in kind or as cash changes the mechanics (ingreso a cuenta or retención), not the result: taxable employment income at face value.
A €300 award for ten years of service
Taxable in full, like the others. What makes it workable is a record per gift of recipient, value and date, so the nómina carries the right figure in the right month.
What Mojo Gift gives Spanish payroll
Since every gift is taxable, the record is the whole job.
Value, date and recipient per gift
Every Mojo Moment is logged with recipient, value, occasion and delivery date, and exports in one file for the nómina and modelo 190.
Grossed-up or not, planned at setup
You decide once whether the company bears the ingreso a cuenta, and the occasion values are set with that in mind.
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 Spain get the same programme, with the record their own country's payroll needs, including the countries that do have an exemption.
Built for the finance question
A programme that answers the payroll query before it is asked.
A record the nómina can use
Values planned with the ingreso a cuenta
No expiry
A human concierge
Spanish employee gift tax, answered
Is the cesta de Navidad tax free in Spain?
No. The tax authority's binding ruling V2982-17 treats a Christmas hamper as retribución en especie covered by no exemption, so the employer makes an ingreso a cuenta on its value. Company custom only affects whether the company can deduct the cost.
Is there any small-gift allowance, like the UK's £50 or Germany's €50?
Not in Spanish law. Articles 42 and 43 of the Ley del IRPF contain no de minimis amount for gifts. The exemptions that exist are for specific benefits such as meal vouchers up to €11 a day, health insurance up to €500 and collective transport up to €1,500 a year.
How is a gift card taxed?
As employment income at its face value. Whether it is treated as a benefit in kind with an ingreso a cuenta or as cash with a retención depends on the card, which your asesoría confirms; either way it is reported on modelo 190 and included in the Social Security base.
Can the company pay the employee's tax on the gift?
Yes. If the company does not pass the ingreso a cuenta on to the employee, that amount is added to the value of the benefit as further taxable income under article 43.2. Payroll reports the value and the ingreso a cuenta separately.
Did anything change for 2026?
No. The BOE's record of amendments to the Ley del IRPF and its regulation shows no change to the benefit-in-kind rules or the €11 meal voucher figure for 2025 or 2026.
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.
Make the taxable gift the easy part of the nómina
Book a 30-minute call. We set the occasion values with the ingreso a cuenta in mind and show the record each gift carries.
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