Small benefit wellness vouchers.
Small benefit exemption: wellness vouchers for staff.
Irish employers can give staff a few tax-free vouchers each year under Revenue’s small benefit exemption. Most go on shop cards. Here’s how the exemption works, and how to spend it on something your staff will remember, with a small local business.
Guide · Updated
What the exemption allows
Under the small benefit exemption, an employer can give an employee non-cash benefits without PAYE, USC or PRSI. From 1 January 2025, Revenue allows:
- Up to five benefits in a tax year
- Up to €1,500 in total across them
Anything over the total is taxed as normal pay, so keep each person’s total within it. These are Revenue’s figures for 2025. Check the page above, or ask your accountant, before you buy.
What counts
The benefit has to be:
- Not cash. A voucher, card or pass that can only be spent on goods or services. It can’t be swapped for money.
- Given by the employer. Bought and paid for by the company, not taken from salary. A salary sacrifice doesn’t qualify.
- A gift, not pay. It isn’t part of anyone’s contract or bonus scheme.
A sauna voucher or a pack of sauna sessions meets all three, the same way a shop voucher does.
Why a sauna voucher, not another shop card
A €100 shop card goes on the weekly shop and is forgotten by Friday. A sauna voucher gives people time out: heat, cold water and an hour away from a screen, often on their own beach or lake. Many will go with a friend or partner, and plenty go back.
It also says something about where your budget goes. A voucher for an independent sauna in your staff’s own area pays a small local business, not a chain. That’s easy to explain in a wellbeing report or a staff email, and it’s true.
How to do it well
- Ask where your staff live. A voucher for a sauna an hour away rarely gets used. Choose saunas near where people live and work.
- Check the expiry. Gift vouchers sold in Ireland last at least five years under the Consumer Protection (Gift Vouchers) Act 2019.
- Get an invoice. Ask for an invoice in your company name with your VAT number, for your records.
- Hand them out simply. A list of codes, or a voucher emailed to each person, works better than plastic cards.
- Count it against the limit. Note each voucher against the employee’s five benefits and €1,500 for the year.
Sauna vouchers through Olladay
Olladay is booking software for independent saunas in Ireland and the UK. Tell us where your staff are and we’ll reply with the saunas near them, what they offer and the prices. You buy a team session or packs of staff passes from the sauna itself, with an invoice in its name. One Olladay wellness card that works at any of our saunas is coming in early 2027.
Questions
Can a sauna voucher be a small benefit?
Yes, if the employer pays for it, it isn’t part of salary and it can’t be exchanged for cash. Sauna vouchers and session packs meet those rules in the same way a shop voucher does.
How many tax-free vouchers can staff get in a year?
From 2025, up to five, worth up to €1,500 in total, under Revenue’s rules. Check the current figures with Revenue or your accountant.
Can staff choose a sauna voucher instead of part of their pay?
No. A benefit taken in place of salary doesn’t qualify for the exemption. It has to be a gift from the employer.
How long does a sauna voucher last?
At least five years from the day it’s bought, under the Consumer Protection (Gift Vouchers) Act 2019.