Employee gifts and gift vouchers in Romania in 2026: the 300 lei cap, eligible occasions and taxes

The Christmas gift for the team looks like the simplest decision of the year: pick an amount and hand it out. In payroll, though, the same amount can end up tax-free or taxed as salary, depending on three things: the occasion it is given for, who receives it and how much it is worth per person. The Fiscal Code exempts gifts of up to 300 lei per person and per occasion from income tax and contributions, but only for the occasions it lists. Below you’ll find those occasions, how the cap is counted (including for employees’ children), what happens above it, the rules for gift vouchers under Law 165/2018, how to document the gifts and how the company deducts the cost, with a worked Christmas example. The figures are those in the Fiscal Code as in force at the end of August 2026; check them again before you pay year-end gifts.

In short

• The cap: gifts in cash, in kind or as gift vouchers are tax-free and exempt from CAS (pension contribution), CASS (health insurance contribution) and CAM (the employer’s work insurance contribution) up to 300 lei per person, at each occasion (art. 76 para. 4 point a, art. 142 point b and art. 157 para. 2 of the Fiscal Code).
• Occasions: Easter, Christmas and similar holidays of other faiths; 8 March, for female employees only; 1 June, for employees’ minor children only. On any other occasion the gift is taxed as salary, from the first leu.
• Who receives: the employee and, separately, each of their minor children, each with their own cap.
• Above the cap: the part above 300 lei is salary income: 10% income tax, 25% CAS, 10% CASS and, on top, 2.25% CAM borne by the company.
• Gift vouchers: electronic only, for your own employees only, with a face value of 10 to 50 lei per voucher (Law 165/2018).
• For the company: the expense is a “social expense”, deductible up to 5% of salary costs, for profit-tax payers.

What the law says

The rule sits in three articles of the Fiscal Code (Law 227/2015), which say the same thing for three different taxes:

• art. 76 para. (4) point a) — income tax: gifts in cash and/or in kind, including gift vouchers, given by an employer are not taxable to the extent that their value, for each person and at each of the listed occasions, does not exceed 300 lei;
• art. 142 point b) — CAS and CAM: the same amounts are left out of the calculation base. For CAM, the exemption comes through art. 220⁴ para. (2), which refers to art. 142;
• art. 157 para. (2) — CASS: the amounts in art. 142 are left out of the CASS base, with two exceptions, meal vouchers and holiday vouchers, which are not gifts.

In practice: within the 300 lei, the gift is exempt from income tax and contributions, for both the employee and the company; deductibility of the expense and VAT are separate rules, covered below. It also doesn’t count toward the monthly 33% cap on base salary, which covers other benefits (art. 76 para. 4¹); the full map is in our guide to non-salary benefits.

The 300 lei limit applies from income for January 2022; until 31 December 2021 it was 150 lei. The old figure still shows up in some texts, including the methodological norms of the Fiscal Code. If you see it in an article or in a model regulation, the source is out of date.

The three occasions that count

Occasion	Who receives the gift	Cap
Easter, Christmas and similar holidays of other faiths	the employee and their minor children	300 lei per person
8 March	female employees only	300 lei per person
1 June	employees’ minor children, not the employee	300 lei per child

The occasions are the ones in the law, not any reason to celebrate. A birthday gift, a company-anniversary gift or a gift at the end of a project is outside the regime: the methodological norms treat gifts, including gift vouchers, received on occasions other than those in art. 76 para. (4) point a) as taxable benefits (point 12 para. 3 point e), and the tax authority (ANAF) itself gives the employee’s birthday and the company’s anniversary as examples. They are taxed in full, with income tax, CAS, CASS and CAM, from the first leu.

A few traps when reading the list:

• 8 March and 1 June are targeted. An employee doesn’t receive a tax-free 1 June gift for themselves, and an 8 March gift for male colleagues falls outside the regime.
• “Minor” means under 18. Children who have turned 18 are no longer covered by the exemption.
• A bonus is not a gift. A sum tied to performance or to company results is a bonus, that is, salary, whatever you call it.

How the cap is counted

• Per person, not per company or per family. The methodological norms (point 12 para. 11 of the norms to art. 76) say the limit applies separately for each occasion, for each employee and for each minor child of the employee, even if the parents work for the same employer. An employee with two minor children has, at Christmas, three caps of 300 lei each.
• Per occasion, not per year. The text provides no annual cap for gifts; each occasion has its own cap, and one left unused at one occasion is not added to the next.
• All forms add up. If at the same occasion a person receives 200 lei in cash and gift vouchers of 150 lei, the value is 350 lei, and 50 lei are above the cap.
• They are maximums, not obligations. You can give less than 300 lei, or nothing at all. Gifts become an obligation only if you took them on in a contract or a regulation.

As an order of magnitude, here is how much you can give tax-free in a year to an employee with two minor children:

Occasion	Female employee	Male employee
Easter	900 lei (3 × 300)	900 lei
Christmas	900 lei	900 lei
8 March	300 lei	not applicable
1 June	600 lei (2 × 300)	600 lei
Total	2,700 lei	2,400 lei

The table treats Easter and Christmas as separate occasions, each with its own cap, as is usual practice: the norms say the limit applies for each of the listed occasions. The Fiscal Code does list them in the same point, though, so if your budget depends on it, confirm with your accountant.

Cash, gifts in kind or gift vouchers

The same 300 lei can be given in three forms, and each has its own particularities.

Form	What to know
Cash	Counts toward the cap and is recorded per employee and per occasion. It isn’t governed by Law 165/2018, but it is subject to the same cap.
Gift in kind	Valued at the market price, at the place and on the date it is given (point 12 para. 4 of the norms to art. 76). As a rule, the purchase invoice (including VAT) evidences that price; if you bought at a steep discount, discuss with your accountant the value you measure against the cap. Delivery is proved with a delivery sheet signed by the recipients.
Gift vouchers	Value vouchers governed by Law 165/2018, with the rules below.

The rules for gift vouchers (Law 165/2018)

• Electronic only. Value vouchers are issued exclusively in electronic form (art. 1 para. 2), and only by issuers authorised by the Ministry of Finance (art. 5 para. 1).
• Only for your own employees, occasionally, for social expenses (art. 15 para. 1). Granting them to other categories of beneficiaries is prohibited (art. 15 para. 2), so they are not a tool for clients or partners. The exception in the law concerns trade unions, which may give gift vouchers to their own members from their own funds.
• Face value of 10 lei or a multiple of 10, but no more than 50 lei per voucher (art. 16 para. 2). To reach 300 lei per person you therefore need at least six vouchers.
• Mandatory details: the issuer’s name and address, the validity period, and the employee’s first name, surname and personal ID number (CNP) (art. 17).
• No cash. They can’t be withdrawn or exchanged for money, they are used only in Romania, within the validity period, and only for the goods and services they were issued for (art. 8 para. 4-5).
• The employer bears the issuing cost, on top of the face value, and the face value can’t be reduced in any way (art. 8 para. 1-3).

What happens above the cap

The part above 300 lei, like a gift given on an occasion outside the list, is salary income (art. 76 para. 3 point h, for vouchers). The usual rates apply:

• CAS 25%, CASS 10% and income tax 10%, all withheld from the employee’s income (income tax is calculated on the base left after CAS and CASS);
• CAM 2.25%, borne separately by the company.

The value goes into the payroll of the month in which the gift was received; for vouchers the face value is used (point 14 para. 3-4 of the norms to art. 78). If you leave it out, the differences are assessed later, with late-payment interest and penalties.

Example: Christmas 2026

Elena, an employee, has two minor children. For Christmas, the company gives her gift vouchers worth 400 lei for herself and 300 lei for each child.

Recipient	Value	Cap	Tax-free	Above the cap
Elena	400 lei	300 lei	300 lei	100 lei
Child 1	300 lei	300 lei	300 lei	0 lei
Child 2	300 lei	300 lei	300 lei	0 lei
Total	1,000 lei		900 lei	100 lei

Only Elena’s 100 lei are taxed:

• CAS 25%: 25 lei
• CASS 10%: 10 lei
• taxable base: 100 − 25 − 10 = 65 lei, so 10% income tax: 6.50 lei
• withheld from the employee: 41.50 lei, meaning that of the 100 lei above the cap she effectively keeps 58.50 lei
• CAM 2.25%, paid by the company: 2.25 lei

The company’s cost is 1,002.25 lei, not counting the voucher issuer’s fee. Had Elena’s vouchers been 300 lei, the total would have been 900 lei, with no tax at all. Assumptions: no personal deduction and none of the minimum-wage facilities, values before rounding; on a low salary the personal deduction changes the figures, and the rates are explained in payroll contributions in 2026 and in gross vs. net.

How to document the gifts

The Fiscal Code doesn’t impose a specific form for gifts, but the granting must be provable in an inspection, and for gift vouchers the law expressly requires written clauses. A practical set:

1. The rule, in an internal document. For gift vouchers, the norms to Law 165/2018 require the employer, together with the union or, if there is none, with the employees’ representatives, to set out in the collective labour agreement or in the internal regulation clauses on granting them: the number of employees who can receive them, the face value, the categories of employees and the events that count as social expenses (art. 7 para. 3 of Government Decision 1045/2018). For gifts in cash and in kind, the first sentence of art. 76 para. (4) point a), which lists them too, ends with a reference to what is provided in the employment contract or in the internal regulation, so the safest route is the same: put the occasions and the cap in the internal rules of procedure.
2. The budget. For gift vouchers, the amounts are provided for in the company’s income and expenditure budget, on a separate line called “Gift vouchers” (art. 4 of Law 165/2018 and art. 4 para. 1 of the norms). The rule covers vouchers only; for gifts in cash or in kind, a separate budget line is good practice, not a requirement of this law.
3. The decision for each occasion. A written decision by the manager, with the occasion, the amount per person, the budget source and the list of beneficiaries, employees and minor children. The Fiscal Code doesn’t expressly require it, but it is the document you turn to if, two years from now, someone asks why an employee received 400 lei.
4. Children’s data. Keep in the employee’s file only what shows that the beneficiary is their minor child, usually a declaration or a copy of the birth certificate. It is personal data of minors, so collect the minimum necessary (GDPR in HR).
5. Proof of delivery. For vouchers, the documents received from the issuer (the contract, the invoice, the list of beneficiaries with the amounts loaded); for gifts in kind, the invoice and the signed delivery sheet; for cash, the payment record.
6. The payroll. The amount above the cap goes into the payroll of the relevant month, and the calculation documents for benefits in kind are attached to the payroll (point 14 para. 3 of the norms to art. 78). See what the payroll register contains and how the amounts appear on the payslip.

How the company deducts the cost

• Profit tax. Gifts in cash or in kind, including gift vouchers given to employees and their minor children, are social expenses with limited deductibility: up to 5% of the value of salary costs (art. 25 para. 3 point b item 3). The limit is shared by all social expenses, not one per type. If the company has salary costs of 1,000,000 lei, the cap for all social expenses together is 50,000 lei, and the part above the limit is not deductible.
• Micro-enterprises. Tax is calculated on turnover, so deductibility doesn’t change the tax; the contributions advantage remains.
• Clients and partners. Gifts for them count as entertainment (protocol) expenses, not social expenses, and gift vouchers can’t be given to them. The rules for entertainment expenses and VAT are in our article on company taxation in 2026.
• VAT on gifts in kind. If you deducted VAT on goods you make available free of charge to employees, the operation is treated as a supply for consideration (art. 270 para. 4 point b). Talk to your accountant before buying gifts in kind in quantity.

Common mistakes

• A gift “for everyone” on an occasion outside the list: a birthday, the company’s anniversary, an end-of-project bonus. It is taxed in full.
• Treating the cap as a family total. The limit is per employee and per minor child; it isn’t a shared sum that you can split as you like among family members.
• Exceeding the cap “just a little”. There is no tolerance: 310 lei means 10 lei taxable. Set the amount per person at no more than 300 lei, adding up all forms (cash, vouchers, gifts in kind) given at the same occasion.
• Gift vouchers for clients, or on paper. Not allowed under Law 165/2018.
• A rule written nowhere. In an inspection, “that’s what we’ve always done” is no substitute for a regulation, a decision and a budget.
• Above the cap but not recorded in the payroll. The part above the limit must appear in the payroll of the month in which it was received.

Where Workly fits in

Gifts are decided and bought outside the app, and Workly is not a benefits-management platform nor a voucher issuer. The amount above the cap and how each gift fits under it are things you settle with your accountant. For the rest of the payroll, Workly’s payroll module prepares the payroll as a draft under the current year’s tax rules, starting from time tracking and leave, with CAS, CASS, income tax and CAM, and the accountant validates it; the month is locked once it is finalised and exports the data to accounting in SAGA (CSV) format. If you want to see what payroll looks like in Workly, ask for a demo on data from your own company.

Gifts are only one part of a policy for motivating the team; for the rest, see our article on motivating employees in an SME.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cap for Christmas and Easter gifts?

300 lei per person, at each occasion, for the employee and, separately, for each of their minor children. Within this limit, the gift isn’t taxed and isn’t included in the CAS, CASS and CAM base.

Is the 300 lei cap per year or per occasion?

Per occasion. The Fiscal Code text says “for each person, at each occasion” and provides no annual cap. A cap left unused at one occasion isn’t added to the next.

Can I give gifts to employees’ children?

Yes. Only gifts for minor children, and only at Easter, Christmas and similar holidays of other faiths and on 1 June, are tax-free, up to 300 lei per child at each occasion. On other occasions, or for adult children, you can still give the gift, but it is taxed as the employee’s salary income.

What happens if I go over 300 lei?

Only the part above the cap becomes salary income: 25% CAS, 10% CASS, 10% income tax and, on top for the company, 2.25% CAM. The 300 lei stay tax-free.

Can I give a birthday or company-anniversary gift without tax?

No. Those occasions aren’t among the ones in the Fiscal Code, so the gift is taxed in full, as a salary benefit, with income tax and contributions, from the first leu.

Both parents work for me. How does the cap apply?

The methodological norms say the limit applies separately for each employee and for each minor child of the employee, even if the parents work for the same employer. How exactly to split the gifts for the same child in this case, confirm with your accountant before granting them.

Can I give gift vouchers on paper, or to clients?

No. Value vouchers are issued only in electronic form, and gift vouchers are given exclusively to your own employees, occasionally, for social expenses (Law 165/2018, art. 1 para. 2 and art. 15). Clients and partners receive entertainment gifts, under a different regime.

Am I required to give gifts?

No. Neither the Fiscal Code nor Law 165/2018 obliges you. The obligation arises only if you took it on in the collective agreement, in individual contracts or in the internal regulation.

Is the cost of gifts deductible?

For profit-tax payers, yes, up to 5% of salary costs, a limit shared by all social expenses (art. 25 para. 3 point b). Micro-enterprises don’t deduct expenses, because their tax is calculated on turnover.

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Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. It is not tax or legal advice. Caps, rates and rules may change through subsequent legislation — always check the Fiscal Code in force (art. 25, 76, 139, 142, 157, 220⁴), Law 165/2018 and their norms, or consult an accountant before granting gifts.