SZÉP Card and Erzsébet voucher continue to dominate cafeteria systems

For the Figyelő weekly, we prepared our annual analysis of cafeteria benefit popularity based on the latest 2016 data and five-year trends.

The sole regulatory change in 2016 was the PIT rate decrease from 16% to 15%, which reduced the fringe benefit tax burden from 35.7% to 34.51%, and the "certain specified benefits" burden from 51.17% to 49.98%.

Our analysis is based on the current benefit allocation declarations of over 30,000 employees tracked in the c1 cafeteria system, from companies and institutions across various industries and regions.

Results

There were no striking changes compared to the previous year. The SZÉP Card overtook the 40% popularity mark, while the second-placed Erzsébet voucher decreased by roughly the same amount. This means that of every HUF 100 in cafeteria benefits, HUF 40 goes to the SZÉP Card and HUF 27 to Erzsébet vouchers.

Since 2013, a clear concentration has occurred in favour of these two benefits, and by 2015 all other individual benefits had dropped below the 10% threshold.

Tax-exempt housing support remains the most popular tax-free benefit.

SZÉP sub-account distribution

The SZÉP sub-account distribution reflects the primacy of dining — 68% of SZÉP contributions went to the hospitality sub-account this year. However, due to cross-sub-account flexibility, sub-account popularity no longer directly indicates actual spending purpose.