• • • Activating the benefit and topping up the budget
      • 1. topping up the budget
        • Automatic recharging
        • SEPA
      • 2. Activate vouchers for employees
        • Details on the configuration of “Vouchers”

        • 50€ voucher limit

      • 3. Invite employees
    • Supplementary agreement to the employment contract
    • Settlement of benefits in kind & integration into payroll accounting
    • Documentation in the payroll account
    • Payroll accounting via payroll
      • Configuration of the wage type
      • Obtaining an import file for the payroll program
      • Early receipt of the export file for payroll accounting before the end of the month
    • Easier recording
    • Fall-back vouchers as a security function
    • Further information on the voucher inflow
    • Legal basis (and information for tax advisors)
    • How is it ensured that Probonio's solution for benefits in kind is legally compliant?
    • Video Tutorial

 

Activating the benefit and topping up the budget

The “Gift cards/Vouchers” benefit can be activated and individually configured for employees in the employer portal. When setting up the benefit, we recommend first topping up your credit budget and then inviting your employees. This is because vouchers are only activated and can be used by your employees once the budget is covered.

1. Topping up the budget

First top up your voucher budget for at least one month. This must cover at least the total amount of vouchers that are to be available to employees in that month. In the case of ten employees who are each to receive a voucher budget of €50, for example, this results in a minimum amount of €500 (10x€50=€500).

Please note: A top-up always consists of two points:

1. The registration of the budget top-up in the employer portal.
2. The money transaction (possible via bank transfer in advance and via SEPA company direct debit).

Only when both points have been completed and we have received the money will the money be credited to you in the employer portal and can be used by your employees.

To register the top-up, click on Gift Cards > Orders in the menu.

On the newly opened page, click on the Balance tab at the top right and then on the Top up button.

A new pop-up window will then open. The expected total amount for one month will be calculated automatically and displayed in the middle on the right-hand side for a rough guide. Fill in the amount field on the left with your desired amount and complete the process by clicking on Pay and order to pay. 

You will shortly receive an e-mail from us (sender e-mail address: info@probonio.de) with the payment details you need to make the transfer. You will usually receive the invoice within the next 24 hours. As soon as we have received your payment and the processing of your order is complete, you will receive a confirmation email from info@probonio.de.

 

Automatic recharging

Automatic recharging is activated for you by default. As a result, you will receive an invoice from us shortly before the end of each month covering the expected costs for the coming month. If you activate the benefit vouchers or gifts for one or more employees for the current month, you will receive a separate invoice for this. Usually within the next 24 hours. The registration of the budget top-up in the employer portal is also automated here.
It is possible to deactivate the automatic top-up, but this is not recommended. In this case, the entire monitoring would have to be carried out by the employees themselves and there would be a risk that they would not be able to select vouchers.

 

Note: Automatic top-up does not mean that budget is automatically topped up for you! A corresponding transfer to the invoice must still be made. If you would also like an automated process here, we recommend setting up SEPA:

 

SEPA

To further minimize the administrative effort for you, we recommend setting up a SEPA direct debit mandate. You can do this here in your employer portal: https://manager.probonio.de/settings/payment You can find instructions on how to set this up here: SEPA Business Direct Debit Mandate instructions. The perfect addition to automatic recharging!

Vouchers are only activated as soon as the budget has been topped up.

Employees can only use the voucher budget once the incoming payment has been booked and the top-up has been completed. This process usually takes 3-4 working days.

Note: If you do not receive an automatic invoice but would like to set up SEPA, you can top up your budget manually at any time as described under heading 1 Budget top-up. We recommend topping up the budget for several months in advance. Only as much budget is used each month as is actually utilized by the employees. In this way, you keep the effort to a minimum and your employees can use the benefit vouchers as they wish.

 

2. Activate vouchers for employees

First open the menu and navigate to Gift Cards> Employees.

Now switch to the “Benefit inactive” column. Now select the relevant employees and click on the Configure for employees now button.

Tip: To select all employees collectively, check the box to the left of “Employees”.

Enter your desired details in the new pop-up window and complete the configuration by clicking on Activate.

The current month is preset as the start date, as well as the maximum amount of €50. You have the option of setting both the start and end date as well as the monthly amount individually. If you do not specify an end date, the employee will automatically receive the specified voucher budget every month.

Your employees are now automatically moved to the “Benefit active” column. Information on the amount and from when the benefit is active is automatically added to the overview.

You can also end or edit the configuration for an employee here.

For example, you can choose whether you want to deactivate the benefit as soon as possible or plan to deactivate it.

Details on the configuration of “Vouchers”

The following also applies to the “vouchers” benefit: the decision as to which employee is entitled to the benefit and to what extent is entirely up to you - you can also activate, deactivate or adjust the benefit yourself at any time. A maximum of €50 per employee can be paid out each month. In principle, the maximum amount of €50 can also be granted in full to part-time employees, trainees or working students.

50€ voucher limit

Unlike the lunch voucher or the mobility budget, the Probonio voucher is subject to the non-cash benefit limit.

Important
If an employee receives a €50 voucher, no other benefits that fall under the non-cash benefit limit may be passed on to employees. These include e.g. company fitness, health budget (bKV), fuel vouchers. If the €50 limit is exceeded, income tax and social security contributions are due on the entire amount.

 

3. Invite employees

You have now successfully set up the benefit for all your employees. Your budget is also sufficiently covered. As a final step, invite all your employees to use the app on the desired day.

 

Supplementary agreement to the employment contract

We recommend concluding a supplementary agreement to the employment contract with your employees. You can obtain a free template from your personal contact. You can also download it directly at the end of the article.

 

Settlement of benefits in kind & integration into payroll accounting

There are 3 ways of documenting / accounting for vouchers in kind for tax purposes:

• Documentation in the payroll account
• Configuration of the wage type (de:Lohnart) 
• Settlement via payroll accounting
• Receive import file for the payroll program
• Early receipt of the export file for payroll accounting before the end of the month
• Easier recording

Documentation in the payroll account

You document the inflow of all benefits in kind in the payroll account at regular intervals. To do this, you can export the list of all benefits in kind received from Probonio monthly, annually or at the request of your tax office. You can find the corresponding CSV export in the Probonio employer portal under gift cards → Orders → List button on the right-hand side)

Payroll accounting via payroll

Would you also like to document the vouchers on the payroll for better visualization for your employees? Then we will send you a monthly statement of all vouchers received by your employees as an import file for the payroll program of your choice. You can configure your desired payroll program in the Probonio employer portal, e.g. DATEV LODAS, DATEV Lohn & Gehalt, SAP, SAGE, Lexware, etc..

If the accounting system has been changed, please contact Probonio Support and we will make the change for you. You can then enter all information on wage types and e-mail addresses etc. yourself in the respective benefit.

Payroll accountants or tax consultants can import the relevant data into the payroll program used with just a few clicks so that the benefits in kind automatically appear on the monthly pay roll. Documentation in the payroll account is therefore also guaranteed.

Configuration of the wage type (de: Lohnart)

If not yet available, a wage type for the non-cash benefit must be created in the payroll program, e.g. in DATEV. The wage type for the non-cash benefit should normally be configured as tax-free and social security-free (FFJ) with automatic net deduction. Due to the tax-free wage type and the net deduction, the net salary paid out via the salary remains unchanged, as the benefit in kind is received as a tax-free voucher.

You will find a complete payslip as an example attached at the end of the article.

 

Obtaining an import file for the payroll program

To do this, navigate to vouchers in the menu and then to the wage data export tab:

Here you can now select your payroll accounting system, among other things. Most tax offices use DATEV. DATEV offers two programs for payroll accounting: LODAS and Lohn & Gehalt.

You can also activate the monthly, automatic dispatch to up to three email addresses here. This ensures that the remuneration in kind is always settled on time.

Be sure to check the box “Automatically send me the payroll data reports by e-mail every month”.

Now enter your customer data under Tax office data to identify your company to your tax office. Ask your tax office directly for the advisor number and mandate number. You must store this data for the one-off configuration of the integration in the employer portal. The same applies to the wage types.

The export file is then always sent automatically in the billing period + 1 day. For example, you will receive the export for April on May 1st.

 

Early receipt of the export file for payroll accounting before the end of the month

If your payroll office runs payroll before the end of the month and the complete export file is required earlier, you can set a deadline in your portal by which employees must select a voucher in the app at the latest. The report will then be sent automatically on the following day.

Example: If you specify in your portal that employees must select vouchers by the 20th of the month, the report will be sent automatically on the 21st of the month.

You can make the settings directly in your employer portal under vouchers > Settings > Day of the month up to which employees may choose vouchers.

Please note that you can also download the file manually under vouchers > Wage data export > Generate wage data export.

Easier recording

You don't want to worry about documenting benefits in kind. Probonio documents all benefits in kind received digitally in accordance with the legal requirements (e.g. GoBD). You can therefore apply to the tax office for a simplified recording procedure for non-cash benefits. We will be happy to provide you with a template for the application for simplified recording free of charge on request. Once your local tax office has given its approval, you are no longer required to keep records. In this case, Probonio documents and archives the time of receipt and the type of all non-cash benefits on your behalf for up to 10 years.

 

Fall-back vouchers as a security function

For tax law reasons, vouchers must always accrue to employees in the corresponding month. This means that if you provide an employee with a voucher in March, your employee must also choose a voucher in March. Otherwise, the credit would expire for your employee, while it remains as a credit in your portal.

To prevent your employees' credit from expiring, an automatic voucher inflow is set by default for your employees. This means that if an active employee has not yet manually selected a voucher by the last day of the month and no automatic selection has been made, they will automatically receive a voucher specified by you. By default, a voucher from the provider “Rossmann” is stored here. You can make changes in the “Automatically selected voucher” section. The providers listed here meet the requirements that they are available for every value.

If you select “None selected”, your employees are responsible for selecting a voucher themselves or for storing an individual automatic voucher. Your employees can do this in the app.

You can make all other adjustments to the settings for the fall-back vouchers directly in the settings for the voucher inflow.

To do this, navigate via your menu to vouchers > Settings.

 

 

Here you can now adjust all settings to your requirements. Confirm your adjustments by clicking on the Save button at the top right.

 

Further information on the voucher inflow

There are a total of 3 ways to ensure that employees receive a voucher:

1. Independent manual selection by employees: Employees select their desired voucher for the respective month independently and manually via the app.
2. Independent automatic selection by employees: If employees do not open the app regularly, for example, or always want the same voucher, they can activate the “automatic selection” option. This function takes effect on the last day of the month if no manual selection has been made by then.
3. Security voucher from the employer side: As an employer, you have the option of setting up an additional security level by defining a “security voucher”. According to our standard configuration, an active employee automatically receives a “Rossmann” voucher at the end of the month if neither a manual nor automatic selection has been made by then and the credit would otherwise expire. You can adjust the settings for this directly in your portal.

Legal basis (and information for tax advisors)

Since 01.01.2022, employers have been able to grant their employees a monthly benefit in kind of up to 50 euros per month or up to 600 euros per year free of tax and social security contributions, which has increased the exemption limit for benefits in kind from 44 euros to 50 euros.

The following regulations apply to the 50 euro voucher in kind:

• No payment of the 50 euro voucher in kind may be made via salary transfer or in cash.
• The voucher in kind must be paid in addition to the salary, which means that salary conversion is not possible.
• The 50 euro voucher in kind must be paid in the form of goods and services
• The amount of EUR 50 per month (incl. VAT) may not be exceeded - if this is the case, the entire amount of the benefit in kind is subject to tax and social security contributions.
• Benefits in kind should be included in payroll accounting with the amount of the benefit in kind and the date of receipt.
• Employees are not obliged to use the non-cash benefit in the month in which it is received, but can accumulate the money.

The following vouchers and cash cards can be granted by the employer or a third party for the purchase of goods or services:

• • Vouchers or cash cards [...] which entitle the holder to purchase goods or services exclusively from the issuer of the voucher from its own product range [...]; the registered office of the issuer and its product range are not limited to Germany in this respect.
  • Vouchers or cash cards [...] which entitle the holder to purchase goods or services exclusively from a limited number of acceptance points in Germany on the basis of acceptance contracts between the issuer/issuer and the acceptance points.
  • Vouchers or cash cards [...] which only entitle the holder to purchase goods or services exclusively from a very limited range of goods or services; the number of acceptance points and the purchase in Germany is therefore not relevant here. The sole reference to a merchant category is not sufficient [...].
  • Vouchers or cash cards [...] which only entitle the holder to purchase goods or services exclusively for specific social or tax purposes in Germany on the basis of acceptance contracts between the issuer/issuer and the acceptance points (special purpose card); the number of acceptance points is not relevant.

  Further information on benefits in kind can be found here

Further information on benefits in kind can be found here

• Differentiation between cash benefits and benefits in kind: BMF-Schreiben
• Wage tax treatment of benefits in kind: § 8 Abs. 1 EStG
• Regulation of the exemption limit per month: 8.1 Abs. 3 LStR/ § 8 Abs. 2 Satz 11 EStG

How is it ensured that Probonio's solution for benefits in kind is legally compliant?

Development together with tax experts
Probonio was developed together with tax experts and lawyers specializing in labor and social security law and therefore meets all legal requirements, e.g. additionality requirement, compliance with the limits for non-cash benefits, etc.
Confirmation by tax offices
Probonio's remuneration in kind solution has been tested and confirmed by numerous tax offices throughout Germany. However, if you would like your own confirmation, we will be happy to help you submit a request for information to your local tax office.
Regular review of all vouchers by tax experts and tax offices
The retailer vouchers available via Probonio are regularly checked by our tax experts and confirmed by the tax office. The vouchers are checked, for example, against the criteria of the ZAG (e.g. restriction of the marketplace regulation, exclusion of payment of the credit balance, etc.).

 

Video Tutorial

 

Translation Note: This article has been translated using automatic translation software to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the content. Despite reasonable efforts to provide an accurate translation, we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

If there are any questions regarding the accuracy of the information in the translated article, please refer to the German version of the article, which is the official version.