Mental wellbeing as a social benefit

Mental wellbeing at work now has tax confirmation too. Here is what that means for your organization.

Nobody writes a mental wellbeing policy on a Friday afternoon. It takes conviction, budget and usually a lot of internal alignment. What helps is certainty: certainty that the investment is sound, for finance and legal as well.

In September 2024, the Advance Rulings Service (DVB) of the FPS Finance issued a formal tax ruling on the BloomUp platform. No grey area, no interpretation after the fact. A prior, binding decision.

Below we explain exactly what was decided, and what it means in practice when you offer BloomUp to your employees.

What the tax authorities confirmed

The DVB confirmed two things.

- For employees: the employer's contribution to the BloomUp platform, including the coaching and therapy sessions, is an exempt social benefit. In practice this means no taxable benefit in kind, no extra salary and no tax impact for the employee. Employees get access to mental support without it costing them anything on their payslip.

- For employers: here the situation is more nuanced, and it is only fair to say so. The platform cost, meaning licences, dashboards, Growth Tracks and service, is fully deductible as a business expense. The cost of coaching and therapy, like the Growth Tracks themselves, is not. The employer treats these as a social cost, precisely because they are exempt for the employee. The tax authorities' reasoning is internally consistent: you cannot claim a tax advantage twice for the same benefit.

This distinction does not change the value of the investment. It moves it from the tax column to the social balance sheet.

Why this matters for HR

Barriers to mental support are rarely only psychological. They are practical too: lack of time, uncertainty about anonymity and, yes, the question of whether the employer actually pays for it. The ruling makes the answer to that last question simple. The employer can offer the platform as a social benefit, tax-free for the employee, without any complex payroll operation.

That lowers the threshold on two fronts at once: internally (less administrative complexity) and for employees themselves (no financial disadvantage, no impact on their pay).

BloomUp also works exclusively on work-related topics: stress, performance pressure, burnout, concentration and disconnecting. That is a deliberate choice, and one with a tax basis. The ruling explicitly confirms that this scope is correct and helps it qualify as a social benefit.

What this means beyond the figures

Organizations that use BloomUp see the results in their figures: less absenteeism, higher retention and stronger employee commitment to the organization. The tax confirmation adds something to that. It gives organizations the legal basis to anchor mental wellbeing in their HR policy in a structural and transparent way, without being caught out by tax discussions later.

48% of users say they would not have sought help without BloomUp. 86% report fewer mental challenges after using the platform. These are measured results, not assumptions. Find out more about ROI here.

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Want to know more?**

BloomUp offers three EAP+ plans, tailored to the needs and size of your organization. You can find more information about the plans and what they include on this page.

BloomUp is specifically aligned with Belgian legislation on psychosocial risks and supports HR teams in tackling prevention, early detection and follow-up in a structural way. Book a conversation with our team below.