Last checked 4 November 2026
Vouchers and tax, with the source beside every figure.
No voucher is exempt from income tax — not even a meal voucher. What exists is relief on CNSS contributions, for some kinds and within limits. Here is each one, with the text it comes from.
Income tax: no voucher is exempt
For the employee, every kind of voucher — meal vouchers included — is salary for income tax (IRPP), at its face value, withheld through payroll like the rest of their pay. For the employer, it is a staff cost, deducted like salary: exactly as the same amount paid in cash would be.
- Code de l'IRPP et de l'IS, articles 25 and 26: benefits in kind are part of taxable salary, valued at their real worth.
- Nothing below is an income-tax exemption. Every figure on this page is about CNSS contributions only.
The 2026 SMIG, which the limits are measured in
The decree writes its limits as multiples of the SMIG for the 48-hour working week.
- Monthly SMIG: 554.736 TND — décret n° 67/2026, published in the JORT on 30 April 2026, in force from 1 January 2026.
- Hourly SMIG: 2.667 TND — the same decree.
Meal vouchers
Excluded from the CNSS base within two limits, both set by Décret n° 2003-1098 du 19 mai 2003.
- Per meal: up to 3 × the hourly SMIG, per meal and per double-shift working day — article 1er, point 13. In 2026 that is 8.001 TND: our computation, 3 × 2.667 TND, because no authority publishes the figure.
- Overall: all excluded benefits together may not exceed 5% of the company's total payroll — article 3. Above that, they are contributed on normally.
Gifts on the occasions the decree lists
An employer's gifts to its staff on the occasions in Décret n° 2003-1098, article 1er, items 6 to 9, are excluded from the CNSS base up to each occasion's limit, inside the same 5% of payroll.
- Religious holidays, a birth, a circumcision (item 8): up to one month's salary, and no more than 1 SMIG — 554.736 TND in 2026.
- A marriage, a pilgrimage (item 7): up to one month's salary, and no more than 2 SMIG — 1,109.472 TND in 2026.
- Retirement (item 6): up to three months of the employee's own salary.
- A bereavement (item 9): the decree sets no amount.
- 1 May, the end of the year, New Year and birthdays are not among the decree's occasions.
Leisure vouchers
Décret n° 2003-1098, article 1er, item 16, excludes from the CNSS base allowances for cultural, sporting and leisure activities. The examples it gives are collective: staff associations, outings.
- Whether a leisure voucher given to one employee, and spent at a cinema or a hotel, is covered is not settled. We are confirming it, and until then we claim no relief for the leisure voucher.
Work clothing vouchers
Item 10 of the same article excludes work clothing that remains the employer's property. Clothing an employee buys with a voucher becomes theirs, so on a plain reading the exclusion does not reach it.
- Whether a work clothing voucher can qualify by any route is being confirmed. Until then we claim no relief for it.
Service, incentive and multi vouchers
No relief on contributions. For the employee they are salary: taxed for income tax and contributed on to the CNSS like pay.
- Service voucher: the decree's exclusions for a crèche, schooling or a holiday camp cover benefits restricted to those purposes. Bounou's service voucher is not restricted to them.
- Incentive voucher: a reward is salary.
- Multi voucher: it is not restricted to any purpose the decree lists.
What the texts do not settle
The published texts do not settle these points. Until a text does, this page claims nothing on them.
- Whether the limit for religious holidays, a birth or a circumcision applies to each occasion, or once to the whole item in a year.
- How the retirement limit is applied in practice.
- Whether an individual leisure voucher is covered by item 16.
- Whether a work clothing voucher can qualify at all.
- Which CNSS contribution rates apply in 2026. The savings calculator uses the general-regime rates the CNSS publishes.
Information, not tax advice: written from the texts as published, checked on the date at the top. How the 5% envelope is shared across your staff is a decision for your accountant.