I one spoke with a woman from the Netherlands who was surprised that these perks are not taxable. According to her, in the Netherlands perks like shuttles to work or company-provide food are taxable.
Similar taxes have been adopted in Norway, as companies were paying for leased cars and mobile phones rather than raising wages.
Taxable throughout the EU [probably the entire EU]. In most cases it amounts to full income + social tax - just like salary (except it doesn't count for retirement). There could be some exceptions like drinking water but overall it's considered hidden salary.
Shuttles are a weird area even in the U.S. - When I worked as a contractor at Google I was required to pay for shuttle use since Google couldn't write off benefits provided to non-employees.
They are in Germany. What happens with perks is that there's a (reasonable) fixed value assigned to them which is accounted for in income taxes.
And as long as they're below a certain amount, the benefits will be taxed at a fixed tax rate, not the employees individual rate. It's much easier for accounting purposes.
What if the company had a business meeting and lunch was provided?
If it involves clients, then you need the paperwork and may save on part of the VAT + part of the money could be considered expense.
Usually it can be quite complex and it's not harmonized in the EU.
IANADoNTL (I am not a Dutch or Norwegian Tax Lawyer), but I bet there's a ridiculously complex set of rules governing what constitutes 'taxable food'.