Fringe benefit at the top of the aid used by employees in 2022

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The providers of welfare services for companies welcome the increase to 3 thousand euros of the non-taxable threshold of fringe benefits established by the Labor decree for 2023, but they hope that the same threshold will be raised when fully operational (stopped from 25 years to 258 23 euros, the old 500,000 lire), possibly for all workers, and not just for parents.

Meanwhile, the Assolombarda Welfare Observatory referring to 2022 and just published, reveals that last year, with the double increase in the non-taxable threshold of fringe benefits (first to 600 euros and then to 3 thousand euros, including bills) , the demand for fringe benefits by workers has almost doubled. In other words, the share of the budget made available by companies used mainly in the form of purchase vouchers, cash reimbursements for utilities or goods in kind: a share that has risen to 41%, from 23% in 2021 (see the graph above) .

The amount made available by companies for welfare goods and services in 2022 was 743 euros, on average, per worker. While the sum actually used by the workers was 588 euros each (79% of what was available).

«The welfare budget exploited by workers in 2022 on our platform was 220 million euros, an increase compared to 140 million in 2021», explains Andrea Verani, commercial director of DoubleYou, corporate welfare provider of the Zucchetti group. The platform makes welfare services available to 1,300 companies, for a total of 420,000 workers, 70,000 of whom are parents. «Over 40% of the budget – adds Verani – was spent on fringe benefits, the simplest formula closest to money. 33% was used to reimburse household services, mostly school-related expenses. The remaining budget financed leisure and personal education services».

As for the effectiveness of the new concession on fringe benefits for parents, Andrea Verani hopes for a more general reflection: «There is no planning to establish which corporate welfare services are actually deserving of a tax incentive. For example, only one million euros of the budget available on our platform has been used for babysitting expenses. The tax incentive, if updated and more targeted, could favor the emergence of undeclared work in this field. In recent years – he continues – investments have been made only in economic leverage, raising the non-taxable threshold of fringe benefits. But a worker, with vouchers for 3,000 euros, could also buy a television».