The small benefit exemption explained for Irish employers

From 1 January 2025, an employer can give an employee up to five small benefits a year, tax free, with a combined value of no more than €1,500.

Around that figure sit three conditions:

The benefit may not be in cash and may not be redeemable for cash.
The limit is combined: up to five benefits and no more than €1,500 in total across the year.
An unused part of the allowance cannot be carried into the next year.

That last condition is why the question lands in November. Whatever is not used by the end of December does not roll over.

Gift cards come up in this context for a simple reason: a gift card is not cash, so employers ask whether it fits the conditions. That is the right question to ask rather than assume. The exemption sets the conditions, a non-cash gift card can be one way of meeting them, and the employer decides whether a given benefit qualifies. Employers also have their own reporting obligations to Revenue.

The rules and the amount are set by Revenue and can change. Check the current position with Revenue before you order.

Before 2025, both the number of benefits allowed and the combined limit were lower than they are now. From 1 January 2025, it is up to five benefits in the year with a combined value of no more than €1,500.

People still look up the 2024 figures for two reasons. One is habit: an old figure tends to outlive a rule change by years. The other is practical. An employer closing off an earlier year needs the position as it stood then, not the position now.

The useful rule of thumb is that the figures belong to the tax year they were set for. A benefit given in November 2026 falls under the position for 2026, whatever an older article says.

Confirm the current tax year on the Revenue website before you commit a budget. It's a short check, and the responsibility sits with the employer either way.

Turn those conditions into decisions and the picture gets practical.

Not cash, not redeemable for cash. This is the first filter. Anything that can be turned back into money does not meet it.

Five benefits, €1,500 combined. Anything already given earlier in the year counts towards both limits. Check the year to date before you set a December amount.

The employer decides and reports. This part cannot be handed to a supplier. People talk about a tax free gift card, but the exemption is a rule about benefits, not a property of a product. No gift card is tax free in itself.

Before you order, check four things:

• What each person has already received this year.
• Whether the benefit meets the conditions, as Revenue sets them out.
• Who is on the list, including part-time staff and new starters.
• Your own reporting to Revenue.

Most employers who look into this end up placing a Christmas order. Our corporate Christmas gift page and our page on gift cards for business explain how that works. If you'd like your own logo or design on the card, have a look at personalised gift cards.

November is the month to get this sorted. Payroll wants it settled before the Christmas break, and so does everyone else in the building.

Four steps, in order:

1. Decide the amount per person.
2. Decide digital or physical.
3. Collect the names and email or postal addresses.
4. Place the order, then file the paperwork while it's fresh.

Digital cards arrive by email within minutes. A physical card goes by post, so leave a few days for that one.

There are two practical options on our side. The All-in-1 Choice Gift Card runs from €10 to €500 and lets each person choose where to spend it, which suits a mixed team where one wants new runners and another wants a dinner out. The Merry Christmas Gift Card does the same job with a festive design. Neither card carries a tax status of its own. That's the rule's job, not the card's.

Have staff in more than one country? Take a look at our international gift cards. For how business orders are paid, see our payment options for business.

A Christmas bonus doesn't have to mean cash on a payslip, and a tax free bonus isn't something an employer can simply declare. The exemption decides, so check it first, then order while November still has a bit of room in it.