Turkish Labor Law
One of the employee benefits is the meal allowance in cash. With the Regulation on the Amendment of the Social Security Transactions Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 11.11.2022 and numbered 32010, the exemption amount for 6% of the daily minimum wage applied in case of cash meal allowance payment to the employees was abolished. The authority to determine the new exemption amount was waiting for the decision to be issued by the SGK Board of Directors.
With the circular numbered 2022/20 published by the General Directorate of Insurance Premiums on 23.11.2022, between the dates of 1.12.2022 and 31.12.2022, the meal cost that will be exempted from the earnings subject to premium of the insured persons within the scope of 4/1-a of the Law No. 5510 is determined as 23.65% of the daily gross minimum wage.
Calculation of the daily meal money to be exempted according to the new regulation will be as follows:
215.70 TL x 23.65% = 51.01 ₺.
In the calculation of the amount of food that will be exempted from the earnings subject to premium before 01.12.2022, the provisions of the legislation before the regulation change (6% of the daily gross minimum wage) will be applied.
After the new regulation, it remains unclear whether the 51.01 ₺ exception will be applied similarly to meal cards, which are currently used by many employers to pay for meals. In the current practice, employers exempt all payments made with meal cards from SSI premiums, although there is no clarity after the circular, it is expected that there will be a change in this practice.
