Sports and culture benefit is now
540 euros.

The change took effect retroactively, so in 2026 you can offer your employees 540 euros of tax-free sports and culture benefit per employee per year. Compared with the previous tax-free ceiling of 400 euros, that's an increase of 140 euros.

Log in to the Epassi admin panel and raise the benefit

Yes, the new 540-euro ceiling applies to all employers, and the benefit can be given to anyone you pay a salary to. That means an entrepreneur running a limited company can also give themselves tax-free employee benefits, while a sole trader can only give the benefits to their employees.

The sports and culture benefit has to be offered to all employees on the same terms.

Both changes take effect retroactively, so if you want, you can update your employees' sports and culture benefit to the new maximum for the current year already. The benefit stays fully tax-deductible for the company, and no indirect employment costs are payable on it. The recipient, meanwhile, still pays no income tax on the benefit — it's tax-free for them up to 540 euros a year.

Log in to the Epassi admin panel and increase the benefit

Yes, you can. The value of the sports and culture benefit can be updated to the tax-free ceiling at any point during 2026. So you can raise it to 540 euros right away if you like.

Just remember that the sports and culture benefit has to be offered to all employees on the same terms.

Log in to the Epassi admin panel and increase the benefit

The sports and culture benefit can be used for the sports and cultural services approved by the Tax Administration. With the reform, it can now also be used for outdoor activities (including hunting and fishing), equipment rental, bicycle and city bike rental, and having a gym programme drawn up.

The familiar use cases stay in place too: gym memberships and other sports fees, individual sports course fees, festival, cinema, concert and theatre tickets, and things like the Museum Card.

What you CAN'T buy with the sports and culture benefit includes art supplies and running shoes. The benefit is personal, so you can't use it to pay for a family member's or anyone else's hobby fees.

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No. Epassi's service fees stay at a few per cent of the benefit value, just as before.

Learn more about pricing

If the sports and culture benefit is part of the Flex balance at your company, employees can flexibly choose which benefits they spend their balance on.

If an employee still has Flex balance left, the limit goes up automatically and they can again use sports and culture benefits up to 540 euros. So the employer doesn't need to make any changes.

Example 1: A company has given its employees 600 euros of Flex balance in 2026, and an employee has used the maximum 400 euros of it on sports and culture benefits. When the limit rises to 540 euros, the employee can spend 140 euros of the remaining 200 on sports and cultural services, leaving 60 euros for other Flex benefits.

Example 2: A company has given its employees 400 euros of Flex balance in 2026, and an employee has used the maximum 400 euros of it on sports and culture benefits. Even though the limit rises to 540 euros, the employee has no balance left to spend unless the employer decides to increase it and load more Flex balance.