← Tax Optimization · Individuals
Employer gift vouchers — 300 lei tax-exempt per event
Cash gifts or vouchers from an employer at certain holidays remain one of the few fully tax-exempt forms of income — but only up to a fixed cap, per event.
What the law says
Cash gifts or gift vouchers offered by an employer for Easter, Christmas (or similar religious holidays), 8 March, and 1 June (for employees' minor children) stay completely non-taxable — no income tax, no CAS, no CASS — up to 300 lei per person, per event. Above this cap, only the amount exceeding it is taxed in full as salary income, not the whole amount.
Important note: meal vouchers no longer benefit from any preferential regime since 2024 — they're taxed with 10% income tax plus 10% CASS (remaining exempt only from CAS). They're no longer a real optimization strategy, unlike gift vouchers.
Art. 76 para. (4) letter a) Cod fiscal (gift vouchers); Law 296/2023 (removal of the CASS exemption for meal vouchers, from 2024).
How it applies, in numbers
Illustrative example: a Christmas gift worth 400 lei — the first 300 lei are fully exempt, and only the 100-lei difference is taxed as salary. The result isn't "all 400 lei taxed", just the part exceeding the cap.
Common mistakes
A common confusion is thinking the 300-lei cap is a cumulative annual amount — it's actually per event, so it can apply multiple times a year (Easter, Christmas, 8 March, 1 June). Another mistake is treating meal vouchers as being as advantageous as before 2024 — their preferential CASS regime was removed.
