Meal Exemption for Employees

1. According to Law No. 7420 and the regulations of the Income Tax Law with serial numbers 322 and 323, in 2024

⎯ In cases where employers do not provide meals at the workplace or its annexes, and meal services are provided by businesses offering such services, the daily meal cost per employee for working days paid to these businesses,

⎯ In cases where employers do not provide meals at the workplace or its annexes, and meal services are provided by loading meal cards or purchasing meal vouchers from businesses offering meal card and/or meal voucher services, the daily meal cost per employee for working days,

⎯ In cases where the payment is made in cash to the employee, provided that employers do not provide meals at the workplace or its annexes and the payment relates to actual working days, the daily meal cost

not exceeding 170 Turkish Liras is exempt from income tax.

This exemption applies to benefits provided by giving meals without cash payment to the employee as follows:

⎯ Benefits provided by employers by giving meals to employees at the workplace or its annexes are applied without any limit on the amount.

⎯ Benefits provided by employers when meals purchased from taxpayers providing ready meal services are given to employees at the workplace or its annexes are applied without any limit on the amount.

2. The full amount of meal payments made in cash by employers to employees must be shown on the payroll, regardless of whether it falls within the scope of the exemption. However, meal payments within the scope of the exemption will not be included in the tax base.

3. The portion of the amount in documents issued for payments made by employers to employees that corresponds to the exemption in paragraph (8) of the first paragraph of Article 23 of Law No. 193 is also exempt from stamp duty.