The Taxpayers’ Association of Finland has criticised rules governing the use of lunch vouchers, reports Turun Sanomat. Current guidelines state that the vouchers are not transferable, must be used by the person who buys them, and only one can be used each day.
“It’s the worker’s business whether he wants to eat a 20 euro steak or a ten euro soup,” says the association’s legal director Vesa Korpela. ”If a lunch voucher is unused on some other day, it is still used for the intended purpose.”
The Tax Administration’s guidance states that a taxpayer cannot use his lunch voucher or lunch card (a payment card that stores lunch credit to be spent on meals) to pay for his family’s food at the weekend. Korpela, on the other hand, does not see a problem with that usage.
“If an employer grants a company car, other family members get to use it,” said Korpela. ”Why should a meal benefit be so personal? People pay tax anyway on the value of the benefit.”
In practice the enforcement around lunch vouchers has tightened, reports Turun Sanomat. For example people who use lunch cards must prove their identity to the restaurant staff.
