Another increase in the meal allowance in 2023 – draft legislation

The meal allowance amounts for business trips were last adjusted by Measure No. 171/2023 Coll. of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic on meal allowance amounts, effective from 1 June 2023, on the basis of the price index for food and non-alcoholic beverages in restaurant catering for January 2023. We informed you about this, and you can read about the latest change to the legislation here.

Under the mechanism for increasing the meal allowance amounts laid down in Section 8(1) of the Travel Allowances Act, the condition for increasing them has been met on the basis of the statistical data for June 2023.

In June 2023, the monthly cumulative price index for food and non-alcoholic beverages in restaurant catering in the Slovak Republic reached 105.8, which is an increase of 5.8 percentage points over the base (the base is the calendar month on the basis of which the meal allowance amounts were last adjusted by a measure).

Under the draft measure of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic on meal allowance amounts, the meal allowance for the individual time bands will increase as follows:

• business trip lasting 5 to 12 hours: from €7.30 to €7.80,
• business trip lasting more than 12 and up to 18 hours: from €10.90 to €11.60,
• business trip lasting more than 18 hours: from €16.40 to €17.40.

Under Section 8(2) of the Travel Allowances Act, the meal allowance amounts are rounded up to the nearest ten euro cents.

Under Section 5(2) of the Travel Allowances Act, the meal allowance amounts for the individual time bands are laid down by a measure issued by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic; the measure is promulgated by publishing its full text in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic. Employees are entitled to the increased meal allowance amounts from the first day of the calendar month following the calendar month in which they were published.

If the amendment is approved, it will mean an increase in the compulsory meal allowance of employers who contribute to their employees. The employer is obliged to provide employees with a meal allowance of at least 55% of the price of the meal, up to 55% of the meal allowance for a business trip lasting 5 to 12 hours. This would mean an increase in the maximum allowance from €4.02 (currently applicable) to €4.29 (applicable after the amendment).

The minimum employer meal allowance for an employee would therefore rise to €3.22. Compared with the current €3.02, this would be an increase of €0.20.

Employers who provide meals to employees through a legal entity or individual acting as an intermediary for catering services would express the meal allowance as the value of a meal voucher (gastrolístok), which should be at least 75% of the meal allowance for a business trip lasting 5 to 12 hours. With the proposed amount of €7.80, the new minimum value of a meal voucher would be €5.85.

It should be remembered that the employee must have the meal allowance available from the very first working day. The employer is required by law to provide the meal allowance to employees in advance.

Self-employed persons (SZČO), such as sole traders, who claim documented tax-deductible expenses will be able to include a meal allowance of 55% of the meal allowance for a business trip lasting 5 to 12 hours in their expenses for each day worked. After the planned increase, self-employed persons could claim €4.29 in expenses per day worked. This represents an increase of €0.27 per day.