Fringe Benefits

The employment contract may also provide that the salary is to be paid in part or in full in the form of fringe benefits. Fringe benefits are other than monetary remuneration for work. Common fringe benefits are lunch allowances, company-paid telephones, company cars, parking spaces and housing benefits. Fringe benefits are usually subject to quantities set by the National Board of Taxation, unless the parties have agreed otherwise.

If the employer does not give a fringe benefit agreed upon when he/she should, he/she is responsible to replace the benefit with money according to the value of the benefit at the time.

Fringe benefits are advantageous for both the employer and the employee. The employer may deduct the actual cost of the benefit in its taxation within certain limitations. The employee’s salary is reduced by a lesser sum than the actual value of the benefit received. The National Board of Taxation sets out an annual basis on the amounts of fringe benefits in the taxation of the employer and in the salary of the employee.