This article provides answers to frequently asked questions. The article lists possible questions from employees as well as questions from employers.

Receipts can be submitted via the Circula mobile app. The "Benefits" tab is used for this purpose. Click on the yellow plus button, scan your receipt and submit it.

Receipts to be reimbursed must always be submitted within the month of their issuance to be effective in calculating the reimbursement.

Please note:

For any corrections, we extend this time frame to submit to 01 - 03 of the following month. Benefits submitted in this time frame should be correct and meet all requirements, as no resubmissions will be accepted after the 03.

This means for example that all receipts from July must be submitted to Circula by 31.07 at the latest. If a receipt from 30.07. is rejected with a request for correction, it can be correctly submitted by 03.08. and taken into account in the calculation.

The submitted receipts can be viewed at any time in the "Benefits" tab. Each submission is also provided with a review status.

You can submit receipts on as many days of the month as you wish, but you may claim a maximum of 15 days per month. So at the end of the month we will select the 15 most advantageous days for you.

Receipts from multiple points of purchase may be submitted daily if they are combined into one meal. The receipts can be collected and submitted together (up to 3 receipts can be added to a submission).

If a receipt is added later, it can also be submitted separately (Circula adds the receipts of a day together at the end of the month and calculates the daily reimbursement amount).

Beverages may also be submitted if they are usually consumed in connection with a meal. Drinks containing alcohol are excluded from this.

In order for us to be able to verify that a beverage was consumed in connection with a meal, beverages should always be submitted together with other foodstuffs. The items can, of course, be on more than one receipt.

The number of days the employee can receive a benefit is limited to the number of days the employee is not sick or on a business trip. This information must be provided by the employer. To avoid having to provide this information, the number of days per month may be limited to 15 days (R 8.1 (7) 4.2). However, submissions can be made on more days, we will select the 15 most advantageous for you at the end of the month.

Circula stores receipts in an audit-proof manner. Unless your company expresses other requirements, receipts do not need to be stored. However, we advise you to keep the receipts until the controlling is done in Circula.

Yes! In the home office, the use of Circula Benefits is possible under the same conditions.

Yes! The allowance is only omitted in the case of "short-time work 0" (100% loss of working hours).

No! On a business trip, per diems can be paid out, the subsidy through meal vouchers is therefore not possible here.

If the employee performed both an outside activity and work at his/her normal place of work on one day, he/she can use Circula Lunch on that day if he/she did not claim a tax-free per diem meal allowance and the outside activity lasted less than 8 hours.

The submitting employee's first place of work must be in Germany, and the employee must be subject to tax and social security contributions in Germany. In addition, the employee must not be on a business trip. If these requirements are met, the employee can submit receipts from abroad.

The reimbursement is made in the following month together with your salary. You therefore receive the allowance conveniently directly into your account.

No. For each working day and each subsidized meal, only one subsidy can be recognized at the official non-cash remuneration value. If the employee purchases additional meals for other days in stock on the same day, subsidies granted for this must be recorded as cash wages.

No. The costs of using Circula are borne by your employer. For you as an employee the net salary simply increases.

Yes, your data will be saved in the Circula app. You can log in with your new smartphone.

If you decide not to use Circula Benefits in the future, simply contact your company's HR department and have your gross salary reset to the original amount.

Yes. Circula ensures that your data is secure. You can find all information about data protection at Circula here.

Circula Lunch consists of far less effort than traditional paper meal vouchers. By processing and controlling the submitted vouchers through Circula, you as an employer only have to import an export file into your payroll system at the end of the month.

In its decision of August 20, 1997 (BStBl. II p. 667), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) ruled that employers and employees may, by mutual agreement, replace cash wages with a benefit in kind without further ado.

Meal allowances that do not exceed the threshold amount can be valued as a meal taken by the respective employee at the official non-cash remuneration value and taxed at a flat rate of 25%. In the case of lump-sum taxation, the non-cash benefit is exempt from social insurance § 1 para. 1 SvEV. The amount in excess of (a maximum of) EUR 3.10 represents a tax-free allowance from the employer. Additional payments made by the employee for the meal are to be offset against the lump-sum taxable non-cash benefit.

Yes! In the home office, the use of Circula Benefits is possible under the same conditions.

Yes! The subsidy does not apply only in the case of "short-time work 0" (100% work loss).

Since the employer can eliminate the need to monitor days of absence by awarding a fixed number of meal vouchers each month (15 meal vouchers for full-time employees, etc.), half days of illness do not affect the awarding of meal vouchers.

No. Since the employee is entitled to a per diem allowance when traveling, benefits cannot be used on travel days.

Since 02.02.2016, digital meal vouchers are possible in addition to physical meal vouchers (BStBl 2016 I p. 238).

All information on data protection at Circula can be found here.