Meal vouchers in Belgium: maximum, minimum and entitlement

A meal voucher in Belgium has been worth at most 10 euros since 1 January 2026: the employer pays no more than 8.91 euros and the employee contributes at least 1.09 euros. Within those limits and under the legal conditions, the voucher is free of social security and tax. For foreign employers and expats looking at a Belgian pay package for the first time, this guide covers the questions we get most often: how much can it be, is there a minimum, who is entitled, can a self-employed person get them, and how do you handle them in the accounts. The short definition is in the glossary under meal vouchers.

The maximum amount: 10 euros, built up like this

The maximum is not a single figure but the sum of two parts. Since 1 January 2026 the employer contribution may be at most 8.91 euros per voucher (previously 6.91 euros), and the employee pays at least 1.09 euros. Together that gives a face value of at most 10 euros. The increase is set out in the law of 18 December 2025 on miscellaneous provisions and applies to electronic meal vouchers granted from 1 January 2026. Important: 10 euros is a ceiling, not an automatic increase. An employer giving 8 euros today has to agree the increase through a collective agreement or an individual agreement. If the employer pays more than 8.91 euros or the employee less than 1.09 euros, the exemption is lost and the voucher becomes ordinary pay.

Is there a minimum amount?

The law sets no minimum face value. The only legal minimum is the employee's own contribution: at least 1.09 euros per voucher. An employer may therefore give a voucher below 10 euros, and many companies do. A minimum can come from your sector, though: in some joint committees meal vouchers are mandatory. So always check the collective agreements of your own joint committee before choosing an amount. A voucher you already grant voluntarily cannot be withdrawn unilaterally afterwards, because it is part of the pay agreed in the employment contract.

Who is entitled to meal vouchers?

There is no general legal entitlement to meal vouchers. The entitlement only exists when a sector agreement, a company agreement or, if no collective agreement can be concluded, a written individual agreement grants them. In that last case the amount may not exceed the highest amount granted through a collective agreement in the same company. Whoever is entitled gets one voucher per day actually worked. Holidays, public holidays and days of guaranteed sick pay do not count. For part-time or irregular schedules there is, in limited cases, an alternative count based on hours worked, but only if a collective agreement or the work regulations set it out. The voucher is in the employee's name, loaded electronically onto a meal voucher card and valid for twelve months. Nationality plays no role: an expat covered by the same agreement gets the same vouchers.

Self-employed people and company directors

If you are self-employed and work through a company, the company can give you meal vouchers as a company director, under the same conditions as employees: at most 8.91 euros contribution, at least 1.09 euros own share, one voucher per day actually worked and a written agreement. If the company has employees, they must also receive meal vouchers and the director may not get more than the best-treated employee. Without staff it is also possible, and those two conditions then fall away. When all conditions are met, the voucher is not a taxable benefit. A self-employed person running a sole proprietorship cannot grant themselves meal vouchers: there is no employer granting them and so no exemption.

Meal voucher accounting and tax for the employer

For the employer the contribution is a staff cost, but only partly tax deductible. If you give the maximum contribution of 8.91 euros, 4 euros per voucher is deductible as a business expense. If you give less, the deduction stays at 2 euros per voucher. The part above that is not deductible. A calculation worth considering: at 8.91 euros, 4.91 euros is not deductible, and at 6.91 euros it is also 4.91 euros. The extra 2 euros towards the maximum is therefore fully deductible. You pay no social security on the employer contribution as long as all conditions are met. If one condition is not met, the contribution is pay and you owe social security on the employer share. The employee's own contribution is withheld from net pay. You reconcile the number of vouchers per quarter: vouchers granted in excess or short are settled by the end of the first month following the quarter at the latest. How vouchers fit into the total employment cost is shown in the employer cost calculator.

What a meal voucher is worth net

For the employee a 10 euro voucher is worth 8.91 euros net: the face value minus the own contribution. With 20 days worked in a month that is 178.20 euros, with 220 days worked in a year 1,960.20 euros, without social security and without tax. A gross pay rise of the same amount yields a lot less: 13.07 percent employee social security comes off first, then withholding tax. Check the difference with the gross to net calculation. Meal vouchers are not the only exempt voucher: many sectors add eco vouchers, with their own rules and their own ceiling.