What is meal allowance?
A food allowance or meal allowance refers to a specific amount of money in the form of coupons or card provided to employees by employers. It is a tax-saving allowance and is a part of the employee’s salary.
The purpose of food allowance is to allow tax exemption on food expenses an employee incurs up to a certain amount.
What is meal allowance exemption?
Employers can add meal allowance in the salary of employees as a flexible benefit component. The government allows tax exemption of up to ₹2200 on food expenses. It ultimately means ₹2200 spent on food by employees is non-taxable.
What is food coupon allowance?
Food coupon allowance is giving food coupons to employees that are worth the allowance fixed by the government. Employees can use the food coupons at food outlets to pay.
For example, an employee can be given food coupons worth ₹2200 that they can use to buy food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Is the money credited for food allowance tax free?
Yes, the money credited to the food wallet (meal allowance) is tax-free. As per the Income Tax Act Section 17(2)(viii) for food allowance, meal coupons up to ₹50 per meal are tax exempted.
For instance, if a salaried employee works 22 days a month and has an allowance for 2 meals a day, then the monthly food allowance will be 100*22=₹2200.
How easy is providing meal allowance with us?
💳 Employees get Pazcard. They activate it by doing KYC.
💰 When payroll is processed monthly, the food wallet in Pazcard gets topped up
🍔 Employees can use Pazcard at any government-approved food outlets using POS across India
Managing food allowance is effortless
No bills; no manual checks
HRs don’t have to collect bills from employees for food transactions and validate them.
Pazcard integrates with your HRMS
Automate endorsements - employees joining, leaving, and appraised to taxable income.
Download reports from the dashboard
Real-time reports on the utilization of food card by employees for any period.
Benefits for your employees in using Pazcare meal card
Open network across India
It means you can use Pazcard at any food outlet that is government-approved
Full visibility via Pazcare app
Check credited money and balance in different wallets. Access card details and all transactions made in the app.
Pazcard in employees’ control
Employees can set pin, lock and unlock the card, enable tap to pay, set transaction limit, etc. on the app
30-minute TAT for query resolution
Employees can raise queries within the app and our team will resolve them in 30 minutes
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