Articles

Fringe benefits in Finland 2026: car, meal, phone and housing values

Karma Accounts · Published 28 October 2026

A fringe benefit (luontoisetu) is taxed as salary at the value the Tax Administration sets each year. In 2026 a mobile phone is 20 euros a month, a staff meal 8.80 euros, a lunch voucher 75 % of its face value (at least 8.80 euros, at most 14 euros a day), and a company car first registered in 2024–2026, with fuel paid by the employer, 1.5 % of its price less 3 400 euros, plus 285 euros a month. The employer withholds tax and pays contributions on it as on cash pay, and reports it to the Incomes Register. Benefits that stay tax-free, such as the sport and culture benefit, are in our article on tax-free employee benefits.

What counts as a fringe benefit

A fringe benefit is the use of something the employer owns or controls, such as a car, flat or phone subscription. If the employee rents or subscribes in their own name and the employer pays the bill, that is taxable pay, not a fringe benefit.

The values come from the Tax Administration's decision for 2026 (VH/6275/00.01.00/2025, issued on 13 November 2025); each year's decision comes out towards the end of the year before. A benefit not listed, or one whose fair value is clearly lower than the listed value, is valued at fair value, normally its actual cost.

Fringe benefit values in 2026

For part of a month, divide the monthly value by 30.33 and multiply by the days. Two phone numbers used privately are two benefits; a handset given mainly for work is no benefit by itself.

Car benefit (autoetu) 2026

The car benefit arises when the employee or their family may use the employer's car or van privately; driving between home and the workplace is private. The full car benefit (vapaa autoetu) applies when the employer pays all the costs, the usage benefit (käyttöetu) when the employee pays at least the fuel or electricity.

The replacement price is the importer's recommended price, with VAT and car tax, on the date the car was bought new, less 3 400 euros, plus accessories above 1 200 euros in total (850 euros for a car ordered before 2023). Ordinary winter tyres on rims are not accessories. The percentage part is rounded down to the nearest 10 euros, and a running-cost amount added.

The monthly amounts assume about 1 500 km of private driving a month; the assessment can raise the value if private driving clearly exceeds 18 000 km a year. The per-kilometre value needs a driver's log or other reliable record. Over 30 000 km of work driving a year cuts the percentage part to 80 %.

Electric cars. A full electric car gets 120 euros a month (or 0.08 €/km) off a full car benefit, and any car with 0 g/km CO2 a further 170 euros a month off a full or usage benefit, under section 64 a of the Income Tax Act, now in force to the end of 2029. A plug-in hybrid or methane-fuelled car gets 60 euros a month (or 0.04 €/km) off a full car benefit only. Charging an own or usage-benefit car at work is worth 30 euros a month for an electric car, 20 euros for a plug-in hybrid.

See also a car in the business or in your own name and mileage and per diems.

Meal benefit and lunch vouchers

A canteen or contract-restaurant meal is worth 8.80 euros when the employer's direct cost, VAT included, is 8.80–14.00 euros; otherwise the actual cost. Breakfast, coffee and pastries are not a meal benefit unless they replace a normal lunch.

A lunch voucher, card or app is valued at 75 % of what the employer provides, never below 8.80 euros, only if:

• it pays only for meals and meal delivery, never cash or groceries
• the employer provides at most 14.00 euros (on a card, at least 8.80) per actual working day in Finland, with no other meal arranged that day
• the average working day is at least six hours; a normal remote-work day counts
• on a card, the employer's and the employee's balances can be told apart

So a 14-euro credit is worth 10.50 euros, and 8.80 to 11.73 euros is worth 8.80. A voucher over 14 euros, or one failing the conditions, is taxed at face value; card credit beyond 14 euros per working day, checked at least at year end, at fair value. If the employer collects the taxable value from net pay, nothing is taxable and its 3.50 euros on a 14-euro lunch is tax-free. Client lunches: see entertainment expenses.

Housing benefit

A centrally or electrically heated flat the employer owns or controls is valued per month, heating included:

The decision lists the Helsinki postcodes by zone; the surrounding municipalities are Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Riihimäki, Sipoo, Tuusula and Vihti. If the employee pays the heating, deduct 1.47 €/m²; unlimited electricity other than heating adds 0.86 €/m². Stove-heated homes have their own values. If the employee had the flat last year, its value can rise by at most 20 %. A 55 m² flat in Espoo is 266 + 55 × 11.20 = 882 euros a month.

Tax, contributions and the employee's own payment

Withholding is calculated on cash pay plus the benefit and taken from the cash pay. For an employee insured under TyEL, the pension, unemployment and health insurance contributions are also calculated on cash pay plus the benefit; a phone benefit for an owner insured under YEL, for example, carries no TyEL or unemployment contribution. Rates are in our articles on employer costs and the TyEL contribution.

If the employee pays for the benefit out of net pay, the payment reduces the taxable value and the base for contributions; paying the full value leaves nothing taxable. Cutting the gross salary instead (kokonaispalkkasopimus) taxes the lower salary plus the full benefit.

An Oy shareholder gets these values when benefits are booked and reported as salary; unusual ones can be a hidden dividend. A sole trader cannot take benefits (owner drawings).

Reporting to the Incomes Register

Benefits go on the earnings payment report as their own income types:

• 304 Car benefit, always separately, with full or usage benefit, age group, kilometres if used, and an emission value of 0 if the 170-euro reduction was applied
• 301 Accommodation benefit, 330 Telephone benefit and 334 Meal benefit, or the three together as 317 Other fringe benefit with the types marked
• the benefit at full value even if the employee pays, and their payment, at most that value, as 401 Compensation collected for car benefit or 407 Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits on the same report
• a meal benefit paid in full by the employee: 334 marked "Reimbursement for a meal benefit corresponds to taxable value: Yes", not 407

Report benefits with the month's pay, within five days of payday, or separately by the 5th of the next month; if December's salary is paid in January, December's benefits can be January income, due by 5 February. The employer's separate report is due by the 5th of the month after the payday month and the payment by the 12th, or for a quarterly tax period by the 12th of the second month after the quarter.

Worked example: salary, company car and phone

An employee aged 40 earns 4 000 euros a month. She has a petrol car first registered in 2025 (group A), list price 45 000 euros, as a full car benefit, and a company phone. Her tax card rate is 25 %.

The employer also pays 1.91 % health insurance on 4 925 euros (94.07 euros), its TyEL share (about 842 euros at the 17.10 % average) and unemployment insurance. If she paid 100 euros a month for the car, the benefit would be 805 euros; a full electric car at the same price, 615 euros (620 + 285 − 120 − 170).

Common mistakes

• Treating the employee's own phone bill as a phone benefit: it is taxable pay.
• Lunch credit over 14 euros a day, or usable for groceries.
• Campaign prices or missing accessories in the car price, or commuting counted as work driving.
• Netting the employee's payment against the benefit in the Incomes Register.

What we do

Karma Accounts runs payroll for small employers, fringe benefits included: we value them, put them on the payslip, report them and tell you what to pay by the 12th, in English. Tell us about your staff through our quote request form.

Frequently asked questions

How is the car benefit calculated in 2026?

The new car's recommended price less 3 400 euros, plus accessories above 1 200 euros, times 1.5 %, 1.2 % or 0.9 % by age group, rounded down to 10 euros, plus the monthly amount in the table above.

How much is the lunch benefit worth in 2026?

A canteen or contract-restaurant meal is 8.80 euros; a lunch voucher or card 75 % of face value, at least 8.80 euros, if at most 14 euros a working day and only for meals.

Do you pay pension contributions on fringe benefits?

For an employee insured under TyEL, yes: benefits count as pay for TyEL, unemployment and health insurance contributions, less what the employee pays.

Sources

• Tax Administration: in-kind benefits (fringe benefits) 2026, decision VH/6275/00.01.00/2025
• Tax Administration: luontoisetupäätös 2026, the Finnish original
• Tax Administration: taxation of fringe benefits, detailed guidance 2026, in Finnish
• Incomes Register: reporting fringe benefits and reimbursements of expenses
• Tax Administration: how to report wages and employer's contributions
• Finnish Centre for Pensions: statutory social insurance contributions in Finland in 2026 (PDF)
• Elo: which earnings are TyEL pay (PDF, in Finnish)

Please note: this is general information about Finnish rules, not advice for your own situation, and the rules change. Ask us before you act on it.

All articles