Business · gifts for employees
Wine gifts for employees: the URSSAF ceiling, home delivery
Giving wine to your employees is simple, on one condition: staying under the ceiling that URSSAF (the French body that collects social security contributions) sets each year, per employee and per event. Below it, no contributions and no tax; above it, the whole gift is reclassified. This page gives the rule, the budget per head it allows, and the logistics of sending to each address.
The URSSAF rule, in three lines
Gifts and vouchers given to employees are exempt from social security contributions when their value does not exceed, per employee and per event, 5% of the monthly social security ceiling, about €196 in 2025. The ceiling is revised every year: check the figure for the current year before setting the budget. The condition is that the gift is linked to one of the events URSSAF recognises: Christmas, a birth or adoption, a wedding or PACS (civil partnership), retirement, Mother's and Father's Day, Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Nicolas, the start of the school year for children. A gift outside these events, or above the threshold, is a benefit in kind subject to contributions on the whole amount, not just on the excess.
| Case | Exempt | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A 3-bottle gift box at €90 for Christmas | Yes | Recognised event, value under the year's ceiling. |
| A €90 gift box for Christmas and a €120 magnum for retirement, same employee | Yes | The ceiling applies per event, not per year, as long as each gift stays under the threshold. |
| A case of 6 grands crus at €400 for Christmas | No | Above the threshold: contributions on the €400, not on the excess. |
| A bottle to congratulate a sales result | No | Event not recognised by URSSAF, whatever the value. |
A summary of the general rule, not legal advice. The works council (CSE), where there is one, applies the same allowance: the works council gift boxes page covers the case where it is the one giving. For VAT on gifts, which follows another rule and another threshold, see VAT on wine.
What the ceiling lets you give
A bottle that counts
A cru bourgeois from a good vintage, a Pessac-Léognan, a house champagne. One bottle, a simple gift box, a signed card. It's the most common gift, and it fits any company budget.
The box of two or three
A red, a white, a sparkling: the box that makes a meal. Or three vintages of the same wine, for those who like to compare. Still well below the threshold.
The magnum or the vintage
A magnum of a classified growth, or a bottle from the employee's birth year for a retirement. The top of the range: check the year's threshold before signing off.
The total
Fifty employees at €45 come to €2,250; at €90, €4,500. The calculator on the client gifts page does the sum per recipient, box and delivery included; only the threshold changes.
Delivering to each address, or all at once
Two possible logistics. The first: deliver everything to head office, in cases, and hand them out at the Christmas drinks. It's the cheapest and simplest, and it works when employees are on a single site. The second: ship to each home, with a card in the employee's name. It's the choice for scattered teams and remote working, and it costs one parcel per address: allow €12 to €15 per shipment for a gift box, on top of the budget, and a clean address file to supply three weeks before the date you want. A gift box that arrives on 27 December has lost most of its effect: the order by when page gives the December deadlines.
What is the ceiling for a gift to an employee?
5% of the monthly social security ceiling per employee and per event, about €196 in 2025, revised every year. The gift must be linked to an event recognised by URSSAF: Christmas, a birth, a wedding, retirement, Mother's and Father's Day, the start of the school year, among others.
Can you give wine to employees without going through the works council?
Yes. The employer can give directly, with the same URSSAF allowance. In companies with fewer than 50 employees and no works council (CSE), it's the only way. Where a works council exists, it's often the one giving, from its social and cultural activities budget.
What happens if the gift is above the threshold?
The whole gift is subject to social security contributions and to the employee's income tax, not just the part above the threshold. A €220 gift therefore costs far more than a €190 gift. Stay under the threshold, or take on the cost knowingly.
Do you need a label with the company's name?
It's possible on request, from a certain quantity and with several extra weeks of lead time. For a gift to an employee, a card signed by the boss often makes more of an impression than a logo on the bottle.
The mistakes that cost
- Using last year's threshold. It moves every year with the social security ceiling. The up-to-date figure is on the URSSAF website, not on this page.
- Ordering in December to deliver in December. Fifty parcels to fifty addresses take three weeks. After 20 November, home delivery before Christmas is no longer guaranteed.
- Giving the same wine as at the office drinks. The cocktail reception wine is drunk standing up; the gift is opened at home, on a festive evening. One notch up for the gift.