[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by skumare

May be a bit OT, I feel this is exaggerated. My experience so far (as an employee/manager in IT) has been that these issues are dealt with by HR, -employee and are not an issue for the manager. At the end of the day, the manager is also an employee and will be impacted and he/she may actually push HR to resolve the matter fast. Appraisals don't come into the picture in these type of issues like coupons, office transport, canteen etc.

In my experience, I used to fight for transport / better food in canteen / permission to go out and eat on sundays (worked on sundays) and trust me i learnt it the hard way. All my juniors were promoted but i was not. It was a costly but good learning that "adjust" and go how the world is.

There used to be "ask the HR" one-on-one meetings and whatever i tell the HR that i do not like, will be told to me during my appraisal by my manager and needless to say screwed.

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

I'm not even sure if the HR gets involved; things like food coupons are usually decided by the payroll. Managers don't get involved in the process.

HR gets involved at least in the organizations that i worked with as it is a benefit and all benefits must be approved by HR.


Coming back to the sodexho Topic, considering 2 schools of thought,

For School 1 where the manager/hr is reasonable enough to hear suggestions, they may opt for Cash (account credit) instead of sodexho.

For School 2 where Manager / HR is not co-operative, it is better to use the sodexho at office or adjust and go.

Or shops could do what they do best - fleece the customer. They could charge 3% extra for Sodexho coupons, at least for people like me who are ready to pay.

[vinair]

Well, I wife once paid the auto guy with Sodexo!! as she ran out of enough change! Ideally speaking, Sodexo coupons are to be used within the employer premises for eatables only (some companies issue Sodexo cards with swipe machines within company premises). News is, effective Dec 1st 2012 no supermarkets will accept Sodexo (or Ticket) coupons and the same can be used only at restaurants...

[skumare]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

For School 1 where the manager/hr is reasonable enough to hear suggestions, they may opt for Cash (account credit) instead of sodexho.

Where I work, this is already built in. If I don't pick up the tokens (for the previous month) in the first week of this month, the amount gets credited to my paycheck in the next month, post-tax though. Ex: Dec payroll tokens are issued to employees in Jan 1st week, and if I don't pick up in Jan 1st week, the amount is added to Feb payroll. See if your company also have any similar arrangement.

[_chikku]

Today morning I spoke to one of the Edenred( formerly Accor) coupon didtributor. According to him all will start accepting coupons again after mid january. May be will have to wait.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by vinair

Well, I wife once paid the auto guy with Sodexo!! as she ran out of enough change! Ideally speaking, Sodexo coupons are to be used within the employer premises for eatables only (some companies issue Sodexo cards with swipe machines within company premises). News is, effective Dec 1st 2012 no supermarkets will accept Sodexo (or Ticket) coupons and the same can be used only at restaurants...

A guy I know once paid a cop, a bribe using his sodexo coupons.

Nature Basket has a board that they will not accept these from 15-Jan-2012.

I hope this entire non-sense is resolved soon.
Never understood the need for these stupid coupons. Damn, I still don't understand why the Govt just doesn't take a fixed percentage of money as tax. The entire system of exemptions and rebates only makes criminals (tax evasion) of ordinary people.

[vinair]

Originally Posted by bblost

A guy I know once paid a cop, a bribe using his sodexo coupons.

Nature Basket has a board that they will not accept these from 15-Jan-2012.

I hope this entire non-sense is resolved soon.
Never understood the need for these stupid coupons. Damn, I still don't understand why the Govt just doesn't take a fixed percentage of money as tax. The entire system of exemptions and rebates only makes criminals (tax evasion) of ordinary people.

Its quite simple, when you opt for food coupons (Sodexo?Ticket etc..), this component (coupons) is not taxed and the full value (to the extent selected) is given to you in the form of coupons on a monthly or a as a one time give out

[Gansan]

^^ The ceiling for coupons is Rs 1200.00 per month, beyond which the difference will be taxed as perks.

I have been using my coupons at Reliance Fresh (food items only), More (any item) and Spencers (any item). Now both Reliance and More have displayed notice that Sodexho vouchers will not be accepted from Jan 1st. No word from Spencers.

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by vinair

Its quite simple, when you opt for food coupons (Sodexo?Ticket etc..), this component (coupons) is not taxed and the full value (to the extent selected) is given to you in the form of coupons on a monthly or a as a one time give out

Yes, but they do cut some commission. At my previous employer, they used to show 1035 Rs for food coupons, but used to givr voupons worth 1025 Rs.

But yes, losing 1% is better than losing 30%.

[huntrz]

Originally Posted by bblost

Never understood the need for these stupid coupons. Damn, I still don't understand why the Govt just doesn't take a fixed percentage of money as tax. The entire system of exemptions and rebates only makes criminals (tax evasion) of ordinary people.

Originally Posted by vinair

Its quite simple, when you opt for food coupons (Sodexo?Ticket etc..), this component (coupons) is not taxed and the full value (to the extent selected) is given to you in the form of coupons on a monthly or a as a one time give out

offtopic but related to the context-
I think Imran is aware that the coupons are tax free he is commenting about simplifying the things once and for all rather than living in this complex web of tax laws and tax evasion. The root cause of all the evils is the way government structures the salaries for their employees and then makes laws based on those structure like basic, ABC..XYZ allowances, DA, various payments and allowances being calculated as a percentage of basic(PF, Gratuity, SA, HRA,LTA), subsidized food, accommodation etc etc. As a result we end up having so many allowances and ways to save(evade) tax.
If all this is simplified then a lot of tax planners will be out of business.

[IronH4WK]

Considering Jan 1st is around the corner, we decided to use up the remaining Sodexo coupons; went to PNP Retail in Kalyan Nagar and used up around 4k worth of remaining coupons

Even they mentioned that come Jan 1st, they would stop accepting Sodexo/Accor coupons. One of the reasons given was that there are counterfeit coupons in circulation.

[kirantp]

Folks,

Come January 2012, my company will stop issuing Sodexho coupons and instead will issue sodexho smart card with equivalent amount loaded on the card.

Please let me know if any of the retail outlets in Bangalore in the likes of Total, More, Big Bazaar would accept Sodexho smart card for food items.

Thanks in Advance.

Rgds,
Kiran

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^ The ceiling for coupons is Rs 1200.00 per month, beyond which the difference will be taxed as perks.

I have been using my coupons at Reliance Fresh (food items only), More (any item) and Spencers (any item). Now both Reliance and More have displayed notice that Sodexho vouchers will not be accepted from Jan 1st. No word from Spencers.

My wife just returned from Spencers and used all our Sodexo coupons.
They said they won't be accepting Sodexo from tomorrow.

[Gansan]

OMG! I have one more book (Rs 1300.00) left! Must spend it asap!

[S_U_N]

What a way to end the year.
We literally had to dispose off our Sodexo before 31st.
Wife had arranged for a kids party. That was enough for spending the balance amount of Sodexo at the mall.

[enzo10]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

Our company have issues the notice that even company cafeteria will not accept Accor \ Sodexo from Jan 1st, 2012 :(

Our company is currently evaluating if it is worth issuing accor coupons from Feb 2012.

Dont know of the big company cafeterias. but most of the small/medium company cafeteria guys usually exchange the coupons collected from employees for either stock replenishment or for cash from these big retailers. Once the big retailer refuses the coupon, the office cafeteria guy will also stop accepting coupons.