Gym memberships are a tax-free benefit where I come from so I can just pay for it from the company bank account and not pay any taxes, making it almost 50% cheaper than paying out the same amount in salary to myself. Meaning the 250€ annual membership is realistically more like 130€ in “real” (post-tax) money. If you don’t do things through your own company, though, most employers pay a health/fitness benefit, often at the maximum allowed amount, which is 400€ a year. Usually it’s paid through a system where you can only spend it on eligible tax-free services, like a gym membership, massage, going swimming, etc.
Gym equipment, however, is unfortunately never a tax-free benefit and is instead considered a fringe benefit. Quite literally considered as part of an employee’s income and taxed as such. So if I spent, say, 2k on equipment, that’s the same as 15 years of gym membership at the current rate (which is already high for me because I live outside of the bigger cities that have the cheap gyms). Funnily enough, maintenance of a company’s existing in-house gym is eligible for the aforementioned tax-free benefit, just buying new equipment isn’t.
Used equipment makes a large dent in the price, but if going for brand new, it takes so long to pay off, it’s rarely worth it.
Gym memberships are a tax-free benefit where I come from so I can just pay for it from the company bank account and not pay any taxes, making it almost 50% cheaper than paying out the same amount in salary to myself. Meaning the 250€ annual membership is realistically more like 130€ in “real” (post-tax) money. If you don’t do things through your own company, though, most employers pay a health/fitness benefit, often at the maximum allowed amount, which is 400€ a year. Usually it’s paid through a system where you can only spend it on eligible tax-free services, like a gym membership, massage, going swimming, etc.
Gym equipment, however, is unfortunately never a tax-free benefit and is instead considered a fringe benefit. Quite literally considered as part of an employee’s income and taxed as such. So if I spent, say, 2k on equipment, that’s the same as 15 years of gym membership at the current rate (which is already high for me because I live outside of the bigger cities that have the cheap gyms). Funnily enough, maintenance of a company’s existing in-house gym is eligible for the aforementioned tax-free benefit, just buying new equipment isn’t.
Used equipment makes a large dent in the price, but if going for brand new, it takes so long to pay off, it’s rarely worth it.