The meal voucher (“titre-restaurant”) is not compulsory anywhere. Many companies hand them out all the same, and once they do, a set of rules applies. This is the position as at 14 February 2025.
No obligation, but an equal-treatment rule
Nothing obliges an employer to provide meal vouchers. A lunch allowance or a staff canteen will do just as well. But once a company offers them, every employee is entitled to them, whatever the contract: permanent, fixed-term, part-time, internship, apprenticeship.
The employer’s share, and the ceiling that matters
The employer covers between 50 and 60 per cent of the face value. That face value is a matter for the employer; in practice it sits between 7 and 13 euros.
The figure that decides the social security charge is a different one.
| Period | Exempt up to |
|---|---|
| until 31 December 2024 | 7.18 euros |
| from 1 January 2025 | 7.26 euros |
Below the ceiling the employer’s share escapes contributions. Above it, the excess goes back into the contribution base.
The employee’s share is deducted on the payslip. During sick leave or holiday the vouchers are not maintained for that period, and the correction follows in the next month.
Where and when vouchers can be used
Restaurants, cafés and bakeries, and supermarkets too. The 2022 extension to food that is not ready to eat, from pasta to flour, has been prolonged to the end of 2026 by loi n° 2025-56, published in the Journal officiel of 22 January 2025.
The daily cap is 25 euros. Vouchers may only be used on working days; Sundays and public holidays are out. Those issued during one calendar year stay valid until February of the next, so an unused balance is not lost.
What is under discussion
Several ideas are circulating: a double daily cap, higher in a restaurant than in a supermarket, lower merchant commissions, an opening to weekends and public holidays, and the end of the paper voucher.
For a French subsidiary the practical question is not whether to offer them but how payroll is set up: face value, employer rate, treatment of absences. That is where discrepancies appear, and that is where a URSSAF inspection looks. See payroll and HR
Source: loi n° 2025-56, Journal officiel of 22 January 2025. The figures quoted are those of 14 February 2025.