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Water and drinks for employees in summer – is it a cost and do you have to pay tax?

  • Writer: Paweł Gorzelec
    Paweł Gorzelec
  • Jun 20
  • 2 min read

Updated: Jun 26

With the arrival of summer, when temperatures reach their peaks, the body's need for hydration increases. For employers, this means not only caring for the comfort of employees, but also a specific obligation resulting from health and safety regulations - providing water or other beverages to employees. Although this seems obvious, many entrepreneurs ask themselves questions of a tax nature:

  • Can the purchase of water and beverages be included in tax-deductible costs?

  • Does such a benefit generate income for the employee that should be taxed?

We dispel these doubts below.

Obligation to provide refreshments – what does the law say?


According to the regulations – including the regulation of the Council of Ministers on preventive meals and drinks – the employer is obliged to provide employees with water or other appropriate drinks. This obligation applies to all employees, and in particular those who work in difficult conditions (e.g. outdoors, at high temperatures, in production halls). In such cases, the type and temperature of the drink should be adapted to the conditions of the work performed.


This clearly proves that providing beverages is not a gesture of goodwill, but an obligation arising from labor law regulations.

Employee Income – Do You Have to Pay Tax?


The Personal Income Tax Act provides for tax exemption for benefits in kind provided on the basis of occupational health and safety regulations. What does this mean in practice?


Water or other beverages provided to employees under health and safety regulations do not generate taxable income. Moreover, these benefits do not constitute the basis for calculating social insurance contributions.


To sum up: the employee does not pay income tax on them, and the employer does not pay ZUS contributions.

Cost of earning income – what does it look like for an employer?


The purchase of water and beverages for employees is an expense that meets the definition of a cost of obtaining income - it is incurred in order to ensure the continuity of work, the comfort of employees, and thus - to generate income. Importantly, this expense is not included in the list of costs excluded from the possibility of including in KUP (costs of obtaining income).


As a result, the entrepreneur can safely include such expenses in the tax records.


Legal basis (English translation):

 
 
 

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