Revenue lets an employer give up to €1,500 a year in non-cash vouchers, completely free of PAYE, USC, and PRSI, on both sides. On a €70,000 salary, a €1,000 voucher nets the full €1,000, while the same amount as a cash bonus keeps only €480 after tax, a gap of €520. Run your own salary and benefit amount below.
Annual cap
€1,500
combined, per employee
Max benefits
5
per employee, per year
Must be
Non-cash
vouchers or gift cards only
Over the cap
Fully taxable
not just the excess
Common salaries:
Common voucher amounts:
Marital status (for PAYE/USC bands)
Within the Small Benefit Exemption. This voucher qualifies for the full tax-free treatment: zero PAYE, USC, or PRSI for the employee, and zero Employer PRSI.
A €1,000 voucher instead of cash puts
€520more in the employee's pocket
And saves the employer €111 in Employer PRSI that a cash bonus of the same size would have cost.
Scenario A · cash bonus
€480
Net to employee, after €520 PAYE/USC/PRSI. Costs the employer €1,111 total.
Scenario B · voucher / non-cash benefit
€1,000
Net to employee: 100% of face value, tax-free. Costs the employer €1,000 total, no Employer PRSI.
Full breakdown
| Line item | Cash bonus | Voucher benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Face value | €1,000 | €1,000 |
| PAYE + USC + employee PRSI | €520 | €0 |
| Net to employee | €480 | €1,000 |
| Employer PRSI (11.05%) | €111 | €0 |
| Total cost to employer | €1,111 | €1,000 |
Uses 2026 PAYE/USC bands, employee PRSI at 4.2% (Class A), and the bracket-dependent Employer PRSI rate (8.80% at or below €496/week gross, 11.05% above), all computed live from this site's Irish tax engine, no separate approximation. The Small Benefit Exemption caps at €1,500 combined value and 5 separate benefits per employee per year, must be non-cash, and cannot be provided via salary sacrifice. This is a simplified estimate, not tax or payroll advice: confirm your own structuring and Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR) obligations with Revenue.ie or a payroll adviser before relying on this for a real payroll decision.
Ordinary cash pay in Ireland, whether salary or a cash bonus, is taxed through PAYE, USC, and PRSI as soon as it's paid, and the employer owes Employer PRSI on top. The Small Benefit Exemption carves out an exception: up to €1,500 a year in non-cash benefits, such as One4All or similar gift cards, can be given to each employee completely free of all three employee-side deductions, and free of Employer PRSI too.
The catch is that it's genuinely all-or-nothing. A single voucher worth more than €1,500 loses the exemption entirely, its full value becomes taxable, not just the amount over the cap. The same applies across multiple smaller vouchers: Revenue allows up to 5 separate benefits a year, but if their combined value tips over €1,500, the exemption is lost on the excess benefit(s), and if more than 5 are given in the year, only the first 5 chronologically can ever qualify.
It also can't replace pay you would otherwise have received: a benefit provided under a salary sacrifice arrangement, where you give up part of your contractual salary or bonus in exchange for the voucher, does not qualify. It has to be a genuine extra the employer chooses to give.
2026 PAYE/USC/PRSI rates, single filer, no other deductions
| Line item | Cash bonus | Voucher benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Net to employee | €480 | €1,000 |
| Employer PRSI | €111 | €0 |
| Total cost to employer | €1,111 | €1,000 |
Want the full rules: the €1,500 cap, the five-benefit limit, ERR reporting, and common compliance pitfalls?
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On a €70,000 salary, a €1,000 voucher under the Small Benefit Exemption puts the full €1,000 in the employee's pocket, tax-free. The same €1,000 as a cash bonus loses PAYE, USC, and employee PRSI (4.2%) before it lands, netting roughly €480. That is a difference of €520 to the employee, plus the employer avoids €111 in Employer PRSI it would otherwise owe on the cash bonus.
Revenue's own rule states that if a single benefit exceeds €1,500 in value, the entire value of that benefit becomes taxable, not just the amount above €1,500. There is no partial exemption for the first €1,500 and tax on the rest: go one cent over on a single voucher and normal PAYE, USC, and PRSI apply to the whole thing.
Up to a point, yes: Revenue allows up to five separate non-cash benefits per employee per year, provided their combined value doesn't exceed €1,500. Multiple professional payroll sources describe the same all-or-nothing consequence for the combined total as for a single benefit: exceed €1,500 in cumulative value across the five, and the exemption is lost. This calculator lets you enter what has already been given this year so you can see whether a new voucher would breach either the value cap or the five-benefit count.
No. Revenue's guidance is explicit that a benefit provided under a salary sacrifice arrangement, where an employee gives up part of their contractual salary or bonus in exchange for the benefit, does not qualify for the Small Benefit Exemption. It has to be a genuine additional benefit the employer chooses to provide, not a swap.
Yes. Under Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR), employers must report the date and value of each Small Benefit Exemption benefit to Revenue via ROS, in real time, on or before the date the benefit is given. This is separate from payroll: it applies even though the benefit itself carries no PAYE, USC, or PRSI liability.
Multiple payroll and accounting sources describe the scheme as available to directors and officers, provided they are salaried employees on the company's PAYE payroll, the same as any other employee. Revenue's own manual on this specific point wasn't independently verifiable in machine-readable form at the time this calculator was built, so confirm your own eligibility with Revenue or your accountant if you are a proprietary director.
Compare a voucher against your other Ireland pay options
The Small Benefit Exemption is one lever among several for Irish take-home optimization. Use these tools and guides to see the full picture.
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