Can an artisan workshop be part of corporate welfare?

Yes, if it falls within the purposes set out in the law — typically recreational or educational — and if you meet the conditions: offered to all employees or to homogeneous categories for a welfare plan, or counted within the annual threshold if you treat it as a fringe benefit. The classification must always be validated by your payroll adviser.

What is the fringe benefit threshold?

The ordinary limit under article 51, paragraph 3 of the TUIR is 258.23 euro. For tax years 2025, 2026 and 2027 it is raised to 1,000 euro for all employees and to 2,000 euro for those with dependent children, as summarised by the Italian Ministry of Labour and the Italian Revenue Agency in their overviews of the 2025 Budget Law. Thresholds change over time: check them before each grant.

What happens if I go slightly over the threshold?

The entire amount paid during the year becomes taxable, not just the excess. It is the most common mistake: people look at the single gift instead of the total already given to that person.

Can I give an experience to just one employee?

As a fringe benefit, yes: circolare 35/E of 2022 clarifies that these benefits can be granted ad personam. If instead you are building a welfare plan under article 51, paragraph 2, letter f), the offer must be addressed to all employees or to a homogeneous category.

Can the employee add money if the experience costs more than the voucher?

The law is clear: the voucher must give the right to one single service for the entire face value, with no top-up by the holder. That is why the voucher has to be issued to cover the full price of the experience: the amount is agreed before it is issued, together with your payroll adviser.

How is the price of a package made up?

It depends on the discipline, the duration, the materials each person takes home and the number of participants. There is no single price list: you tell us the budget per head and we build the proposal inside that budget, all-inclusive.

Corporate Welfare in Bologna: Artisan Experiences in the Plan

An artisan experience enters a corporate welfare plan in two ways: as a fringe benefit — a good or service given to an individual employee, within the annual threshold set by article 51, paragraph 3 of the Italian TUIR — or as a service with recreational or educational purposes offered to all employees or to a homogeneous category, under article 51, paragraph 2, letter f). In the first case what matters is how much it is worth. In the second, who you offer it to. Either way you need a supplier able to issue the right document and to line up dates, capacity and price: and that is exactly where standard welfare catalogues, in Bologna as anywhere else, stop.

Two routes, two different sets of rules. The fringe benefit has an annual threshold: if the total value goes over it, the whole amount becomes taxable, not just the excess. Welfare services in the strict sense have no such threshold, but must be offered to all employees or to homogeneous categories, not to one hand-picked person. Before choosing the route, have it validated by your payroll adviser.

The two ways in: fringe benefit or welfare plan

The fringe benefit is the short route. You give someone on the team a ceramics workshop: the value of that experience goes into the annual count of goods and services you have given them. In circolare 35/E of 2022 the Italian Revenue Agency is explicit: these fringe benefits can be granted by the employer ad personam too, without involving everyone.

The welfare plan is the structured route. You make available a basket of works and services with purposes of education, training, recreation, social and health assistance or worship. Here Circolare 28/E of 2016 from the Italian Revenue Agency is unambiguous: the exemption is conditional on the benefits being offered to all employees or to categories of employees. Give it only to a few people, picked one by one, and the relief falls away.

Fringe benefit: can go to a single person, but counts towards an annual threshold.
Welfare plan: no threshold of that kind, but a homogeneous group of recipients, and works or services granted voluntarily or in line with a contract, a collective agreement or a company rule.
In both cases the value is measured on the normal value of the service, as article 9 of the TUIR requires — that is, the real price of the experience.

The thresholds: what the source says today

Article 51, paragraph 3 of the TUIR sets the ordinary limit at 258.23 euro. For tax years 2025, 2026 and 2027 that exemption threshold is raised to 1,000 euro for all employees and to 2,000 euro for employees with dependent children, as summarised by the Italian Ministry of Labour and the Italian Revenue Agency.

The rule that matters most, though, is not the figure: it is the mechanism. Once the limit is exceeded, the entire amount paid becomes taxable, not only the portion above the threshold. In practice: a small gift, added at year end on top of vouchers and reimbursements already given, can pull everything you handed out over twelve months into taxation. The same logic applies on the social security side, where INPS publishes year-end adjustment instructions annually.

Thresholds change with each budget law and also depend on each person's family situation. Do not trust a number read in an article, not even this one: have amounts, recipients and totals checked by your payroll adviser before signing an order.

The voucher rule catalogues do not explain

If you deliver the benefit through a document — a voucher or a gift card — the constraints are precise. Circolare 28/E quotes the implementing decree: these documents cannot be used by anyone other than the holder, cannot be turned into cash or transferred to third parties, and must give the right to one single good, service or work for the entire face value, with no top-up paid by the holder.

Named: issued to the person, not passed on to a colleague.
Not convertible into cash and not refundable in money.
One single service, for the entire face value: no half now and half in December.
No top-up by the employee: if the experience costs more than the voucher, they cannot pay the difference out of pocket.

That is why, when the voucher has to work inside a welfare plan, its value must be set at the full price of the experience: whoever receives it has to be able to book without adding anything out of pocket. The Handsome gift card is valid for 12 months from purchase on any workshop on the platform, arrives by email and works like a wallet: if the experience costs less, the remaining balance stays on the card. Capacity, dates and confirmation are handled by us with the Maker, and we agree the amount and the terms of use with you, ready for your payroll adviser to review.

Number of people, budget per head, area and time frame. We propose the right Maker.

Tell us what you need

What standard welfare catalogues are missing

Welfare portals do one thing well: logistics. But the basket that reaches the employee is generally the same from Bolzano to Palermo.

All the same: shopping vouchers, fuel cards, subscriptions. Useful, but nobody talks about them on Monday morning.
All remote: online courses and digital platforms, with no real person on the other side.
No local roots: the catalogue has no idea there is a ceramics studio working every day a few minutes from the office.
No local return: the value leaves the area where your employees live and work.

An artisan workshop works for the opposite reasons. It is hours spent with your hands in a material, in a real studio, guided by someone who does that craft for a living. Participants go home with an object they made themselves, and that object stays in sight for years. If you want to know how a session actually runs, we explained it in what an artisan workshop is.

How a package is built in Bologna

Bologna and its metropolitan area have a density of studios that makes something rare feasible: an experience a few minutes from the office, reachable by bicycle. Ceramics, wood, tailoring, cooking, illustration, jewellery. The point is not finding just any studio: it is fitting one inside the rules of your plan, on dates that genuinely exist. You can see what is happening in Bologna to get a sense of the area.

You tell us what you need: how many people, budget per head, area, time frame, and whether it is an individual gift or a group activity.
We pick the Maker, based on discipline, the studio's real capacity and availability. We do not send you off to find the workshop yourself.
We define the format: a named voucher for the individual employee, or a private session for the team.
We prepare the document with a value that covers the whole experience, so nobody has to top it up.
You pass the paperwork to your payroll adviser for classification, and at that point the booking is made.

On price there is one rule: what you see is what you pay. Handsome takes no commission on the workshop revenue: the payment lands directly in the Maker's own Stripe account. The 0.50 euro booking Guarantee per seat is already included in the round figure the customer sees — the price shown is the price paid, with nothing added on top — and Handsome invoices it to the Maker once a month, only on events that actually took place. For a company that means a quote that holds up in front of procurement, with no surprises on the invoice.

Domande frequenti

Can an artisan workshop be part of corporate welfare?: Yes, if it falls within the purposes set out in the law — typically recreational or educational — and if you meet the conditions: offered to all employees or to homogeneous categories for a welfare plan, or counted within the annual threshold if you treat it as a fringe benefit. The classification must always be validated by your payroll adviser.
What is the fringe benefit threshold?: The ordinary limit under article 51, paragraph 3 of the TUIR is 258.23 euro. For tax years 2025, 2026 and 2027 it is raised to 1,000 euro for all employees and to 2,000 euro for those with dependent children, as summarised by the Italian Ministry of Labour and the Italian Revenue Agency in their overviews of the 2025 Budget Law. Thresholds change over time: check them before each grant.
What happens if I go slightly over the threshold?: The entire amount paid during the year becomes taxable, not just the excess. It is the most common mistake: people look at the single gift instead of the total already given to that person.
Can I give an experience to just one employee?: As a fringe benefit, yes: circolare 35/E of 2022 clarifies that these benefits can be granted ad personam. If instead you are building a welfare plan under article 51, paragraph 2, letter f), the offer must be addressed to all employees or to a homogeneous category.
Can the employee add money if the experience costs more than the voucher?: The law is clear: the voucher must give the right to one single service for the entire face value, with no top-up by the holder. That is why the voucher has to be issued to cover the full price of the experience: the amount is agreed before it is issued, together with your payroll adviser.
How is the price of a package made up?: It depends on the discipline, the duration, the materials each person takes home and the number of participants. There is no single price list: you tell us the budget per head and we build the proposal inside that budget, all-inclusive.

A welfare plan, a fringe benefit or a gift for your employees: tell us the group, the budget per head and the time frame. We pick the Maker from your area and prepare the paperwork for your payroll adviser.

Talk to Handsome