Last checked 4 November 2026
The gift card.
A gift for one shop, named on the card. It is spent there, and nowhere else.
What it is
A card for one business, named on it. That business alone accepts it: no other shop can, whatever kinds it is cleared for.
- A shop accepts its own gift cards even if it is cleared for no other kind of voucher.
Who buys it
Employers, for their staff — often for an occasion. And people, for someone else or for themselves.
- A person opens the purchase in the Bounou app and pays cash at a partner counter.
- An employer orders it in the Bounou console and receives a purchase order and an invoice.
- Bounou's commission is added on top of the face value and invoiced. The rate is in your quote and your contract before you sign.
Where it is spent
Only at the business named on the card. Shops that sell gift cards are marked on the map.
- The map shows every shop and the vouchers it accepts, and the app shows a member how much of their value works at a shop before they walk in.
How a member receives and spends it
The card arrives in the member's Bounou account: assigned by their employer, or bought by them or for them.
- At the counter, the member shows a code that lives 90 seconds and says only who they are.
- The shop scans it and enters the amount; the member approves that amount on their own phone.
- If the vouchers usable there do not cover the bill, the shop charges what they cover and the member pays the rest the usual way.
Tax and social contributions
For the employee, a gift from the employer is salary for income tax (IRPP), whatever the occasion. For the employer it is a staff cost, like salary. On CNSS contributions, gifts on the occasions Décret n° 2003-1098 lists are excluded up to each limit, within 5% of payroll (article 3).
- The occasions: religious holidays, a birth, a circumcision (item 8); a marriage, a pilgrimage (item 7); retirement (item 6); a bereavement (item 9). Their limits are in the occasion table.
- 1 May, the end of the year, New Year and birthdays are not among them.
Every voucher is valid for one year from the day it is issued, and its expiry date is shown wherever it is shown; value still unused on that date stays with Bounou. Bounou is not a bank and not a payment institution.