Personal care benefits are intended to create well-being at work. This can include coffee and fruit at the workplace, or a wellness allowance.
The wellness allowance must be of lesser value to be tax-free, and the Swedish Tax Agency has set the limit at a maximum of SEK 5,000 per year per person. It is also up to the employer to provide a lower amount or none at all.
Skatteverket (the Swedish Tax Agency) has a list of examples on its website of activities that are approved as health and wellness benefits. The authority has now announced that this list will be removed at the turn of the year.
The reason is that the list has become like a definitive guide on what is acceptable and what isn't. This has become problematic as activities change names or alter their focus, meaning the list would constantly need updating.
– We hope that it will now be easier for the employer to make their assessments. The list creates unnecessary uncertainty and many questions, says Pia Blank Thörnroos, legal expert at the Swedish Tax Agency in a press release.
The rules surrounding the wellness allowance will not change. However, when the list disappears, higher demands will be placed on the employer to stay informed about what applies.
– We have confidence that the employer can assess the employees' activities, based on their content, says Pia Blank Thörnroos.
On the Swedish Tax Agency's website, it states the following:
- It is the employer who decides whether or not to offer staff a wellness grant and how the wellness grant, within the framework of legislation and practice, may be used.
- For the wellness allowance to be tax-free, it must be offered to all staff on equal terms and be used for simple activities involving exercise, or for treatments that are de-stressing or aim to counteract tenderness and stiffness, as well as dietary advice and advice in connection with smoking cessation.
- Wellness activities consisting of a single treatment with no element of exercise should have minimal value, a maximum of 1000 Swedish kronor for the individual activity.
- The wellness allowance may not be used for healthcare or rehabilitation activities, nor for membership fees in associations, diplomas, or similar.
- In normal circumstances, the wellness allowance cannot be used for the purchase or hire of equipment. However, if equipment is included in the activity, for example, the loan of a horse, riding helmet, canoe or bowling shoes as part of an activity, then this part may still be covered. The purchase of simple digital training and wellness apps is also covered.
Charlotta Marténg
This article is published in connection with Results
