Do you want to give employees a gift certificate, bonus, or other reward? Then you quickly encounter the WKR. But “tax-free” does not mean that every reward automatically remains outside the tax. In 2026, as an employer, you have a free allowance of 2.00% over the first €400,000 of the taxable salary and 1.18% over the remainder. Exactly what that includes depends on the type of reward and its tax treatment.
Therefore, two questions are important for HR: Which reward suits the employee? and How should you handle that from a tax perspective?
What is the WKR?
The employee cost plan determines how employers treat certain allowances, benefits, and benefits for employees in a tax-efficient manner.
Within the WKR, roughly three tax routes are relevant:
- a fee or reward falls within the free space;
- There is a targeted exemption;
- There is a zero rating.
In addition, there are benefits that do not constitute any salary at all. A small personal gesture can be an example of this, under certain conditions.
The distinction is important! For example, an education that falls under a targeted exemption does not have to come at the expense of the same free space as a Christmas gift package or gift card.
How much free space does an employer have in 2026?
For 2026:
| Taxable income | Free space |
| Up to € 400,000 | 2,00% |
| Above € 400,000 | 1,18% |
The free space is calculated over the total taxable salary of the employer. Therefore, it is No fixed tax-free amount per employee. You also cannot take unused free space with you into the next calendar year.
Suppose the taxable income amounts to €1,000,000. Then the free space in 2026 is:
- 2.00% of € 400,000 = € 8,000
- 1.18% of € 600,000 = € 7,080
The total free space then amounts to € 15.080.
If the organization spends €16,000 on designated allowances and benefits that fall outside the scope of the free allowance, the excess is €920. The employer pays €80% in surcharges on that €920, in this example €736.
An internal budget per employee can be useful for distributing the available space. In our explanation of the HR budget for employee appreciation Read about how you can build such a budget more broadly.
What rewards are available within the WKR?
Many well-known employee benefits can be processed through the free space. That does not mean that there is a separate tax exemption for each benefit.
| Reward or provision | Treatment in outline | At the expense of free space? |
| Gift voucher | Can be designated as final tax salary | Usually yes |
| Christmas package | Can be designated as final tax salary | Usually yes |
| Sports subscription | Can be used under certain conditions through the free space | Often enough |
| Cash bonus | Can be designated in certain cases, provided it is customary | Possibly |
| Work-related course or training | Can fall under a targeted exemption | No, if the conditions are met |
| Coffee, tea and fruit at the workplace | Degradation of value | No |
| Small personal gift up to € 25 including VAT | Can not be paid a salary under certain conditions | No |
| Gift voucher of € 25 for a birthday | Does not fall under the exception for a small personal gift | Optional free space |
The precise tax treatment always depends on the circumstances and the way the employer processes the payment.
Can a gift certificate be given to an employee tax-free?
Yes, A gift certificate can be received by the employee within the WKR without tax charges, provided the employer correctly designates it as final tax-deductible income, meets the usability requirement, and has sufficient free space available.
The Tax Authority itself cites gift vouchers as an example of what employers can give to employees without paying tax on the WKR. However, that does not automatically exempt a gift voucher.
For example, if you give €50 to each employee as a year-end gift, you can usually allocate that value to the free space. The value then counts towards the organization's total WKR usage.
For HR, this means that you are reward system for employees You not only need to determine which rewards you offer, but also to determine in advance what budget is available for them.
Can a cash bonus be tax-free within the WKR?
A cash bonus is Not necessarily excluded from the WKR. Employers can designate certain elements of wages as final tax-deductible income. However, the requirement of usability must be met. The WKR therefore cannot be used without any restrictions to convert large parts of regular salary into tax-free allowances.
This distinction is important, because it is sometimes said that money can never be given through the WKR. That is a misinterpretation. The question is not just whether the reward consists of money, But also whether indicating the final tax amount is allowed in that situation and whether there is sufficient free space left.
What is the usability test?
An employer cannot place unlimited amounts of wage components in the free space.
To assign a compensation, provision or benefit as end-of-tax-earning income, it must meet the usability requirement. The Tax Authority looks at what is customary in comparable circumstances. The compensation or benefit may, in principle, not deviate more than 30% from what is customary.
The Tax Authority also applies in practice a threshold of efficiency in the calculation of the tax. € 2,400 per person per year. Until that amount, fees and benefits designated are considered to be customary in principle.
€ 2,400 is no extra tax-free space
The €2,400 is not a personal WKR exemption that every employee automatically receives. The amount relates to the assessment of usability.
Your organization still needs to have sufficient free space.
An employer with 100 employees therefore does not automatically receive an additional €240,000 in tax-free space because the efficiency threshold is €2,400 per person.
Which rewards do not come at the expense of the free space?
Not every expense needs to come from the free margin. For certain business expenses, this is possible. targeted exemptions.
The Tax Authority lists among other things for 2026:
- transport and certain travel costs;
- temporary stay for work;
- courses, conferences and professional literature for maintaining or improving professional knowledge;
- certain courses;
- mandatory arboretum facilities;
- certain necessary tools;
- a Declaration Regarding Behavior;
- the home-working allowance.
If a fee meets the conditions of a targeted exemption, it does not come at the expense of the free space.
That can make a difference when setting up a valuation budget. For example, a relevant vocational training program does not necessarily have to come from the same budget as a gift for a team achievement achieved.
What are nihilistic values?
For some facilities at or around the workplace, a value of €0 applies fiscally.
Examples include coffee, tea, pastries and fruit in the workplace, certain work clothes and various facilities in the workplace. These zero-value items do not take up any space. They are therefore taxed differently than, for example, a gift voucher.
It is therefore important to manage these categories separately. Otherwise, you might be using up space for something that is not even necessary.
When is a gift not really a salary at all?
There is still a relevant exception for small personal gifts.
According to the Handbook on Payroll Deductions 2026, you can assume that a small personal gift is not a salary if three conditions are met:
- the attention is given on a personal occasion where others would normally also give an attention;
- it is not money or a voucher;
- The invoice value is a maximum of € 25 including VAT, excluding separately stated delivery costs.
A bouquet of flowers costing up to €25 for a birthday can fall into that category, for example.
A gift voucher of € 25 does not meet this exception, because a voucher is explicitly excluded.
A Christmas gift package is also not a personal gift in this sense. It is related to employment and should be assessed in a different way from a fiscal point of view.
What about a gift for a work anniversary?
A work anniversary arises precisely through the working relationship. Therefore, a anniversary gift cannot be treated as a small personal gift, such as flowers for a birthday.
Depending on the form and circumstances, such a reward can be processed via the WKR.
The fiscal issue is only one aspect of the matter. A jubilee gains more meaning when you also mention the people who contributed to it. what someone contributed in those years. In our article about Celebrating a work anniversary in person find practical examples.
What happens when you go beyond the free space?
A breach is allowed. The reward is therefore not suddenly banned as soon as the free space is used up. The employer pays the amount by which the free space is exceeded. 80% final tax.
That makes planning in advance important.
Suppose that HR discovers in December that almost all the available space has already been used, while Christmas packages and year-end bonuses are still planned. Then those final expenses could turn out to be much more expensive than originally budgeted.
A practical WKR overview therefore contains at least the following:
| Part | What are you keeping in mind? |
| Available free space | Calculation based on tax salary amount |
| Targeted exemptions | Apart from free space |
| Degradation values | Register separately if necessary |
| Already spent free space | Constant updating |
| Planned rewards | Christmas, anniversaries, achievements, campaigns |
| Expected margin | Space for unexpected moments |
This way you avoid looking only at the amount of one gift and losing sight of the total annual budget.
Being fiscally permissible does not mean that a reward works well
The WKR tells you how to process a reward fiscally. The regulation says nothing about what kind of reward employees consider to be fair or valuable.
A €50 gift card can fit perfectly within the tax exemption and still mean little if no one understands why it is being given.
Conversely, a small gesture can have a much stronger impact when the recognition is concrete:
“Thank you for helping two new colleagues during the busy week. This allowed the team to overcome the backlog without them having to do it alone.”
The reward then supports the valuation rather than replacing it.
That is why at JobRewards we deliberately make a distinction between recognition and reward. The reward highlights the contribution. A reward can then support that moment.
How do you avoid skewed faces when rewarding?
The tax rules are the same for everyone, but the distribution of rewards is a HR decision.
When one manager regularly awards rewards and another almost never does, a scheme can be formally correct and still feel unfair.
Therefore, please determine in advance:
- what behavior or moments can be the reason for a reward;
- who is allowed to award a reward;
- which bandwidth you use;
- what budget is available;
- how HR checks whether differences between teams are explainable.
If you want to develop this further, please use the 9 rules for fair rewarding of employees.
Should every form of appreciation cost money?
No.
Recognition does not always have to be tied to a financial benefit. Personal feedback, development opportunities, responsibility or visibility can be at least as relevant, depending on what the employee values. This is also practical when your WKR space is limited. For example, take a look at this 15 non-financial ways to reward employees.
This way you prevent your valuation policy from becoming dependent on a single fiscal budget.
How do you organize employee rewards smartly within the WKR?
A workable approach consists of four steps.
- First calculate the available free space
Base this on the current taxable salary amount and take into account other expenses that are already covered by the WKR.
- Check per issue whether another tax category applies
First, check whether there is a targeted exemption, zero-rating, or an advantage that does not constitute wages. Only use the free space when it falls into the correct category.
- Reserve budget for recurring moments
Think of Christmas, anniversaries, team achievements, and organizational-wide campaigns. Leave some room for unexpected moments of recognition afterwards.
- Link the fiscal budget to clear HR arrangements
Determine which behaviors or milestones you want to recognize and how to give employees choice. A point system or reward platform does not change the tax rules: the underlying compensation must still be treated correctly.
The value of a platform lies primarily in organizing the process. You can structure agreements, budgets, milestones, and rewards in one place, so that appreciation becomes less dependent on chance or one manager.
Also pay attention to the VAT
The WKR concerns wage taxes. The deduction of VAT on personnel benefits and gifts has its own rules.
For VAT, there is, among other things, a separate threshold amount of € 227 excluding VAT per recipient per fiscal year for certain gifts and personnel benefits. The exact calculation follows from the Decision on the Exclusion of Deductible VAT (BUA).
Therefore, do not assume that something that can be given tax-free within the WKR is automatically fully deductible for VAT purposes.
What will change in the WKR in 2027?
Until 2026, the free space remains 2.00% over the first €400,000 and 1.18% over the remainder.
According to the Dutch government, from 1 January 2027 the percentage over the first € 400,000 will increase. 2,16%.
In addition, the Tax Plan 2027 includes changes regarding the tax-free employee discount on products from the company itself. These proposals were submitted to the Second Chamber of Parliament on Prinsjesdag 2026 and must still go through the parliamentary process. Therefore, when drafting the remuneration policy for 2027, always check the final regulations.
WKR and valuation: keep taxation and HR goals separate
The WKR gives employers the freedom to offer employees something extra that is fiscally advantageous. Use that opportunity consciously.
Start with: What behavior, contribution, or milestone do we want to recognize?
Then determine which form of appreciation suits you and how to handle it fiscally.
In this way, a reward remains a means within good employer practices and does not become a separate gift without context.
A Good reward system for employees Helps to capture those choices in advance. JobRewards then supports organizations in structuring recognition, personal rewards, budgets, and recurring appreciation moments on a systematic basis.
This article provides general information about the WKR and is not individual tax advice. Check the current regulations of the Tax Authority regarding special or large rewards or discuss the situation with your payroll administrator or tax advisor.