Company health insurance
A company health insurance (bKV) is a supplementary health insurance in Germany in the form of a group insurance . If it is exclusively financed by the employer , it is referred to as a mandatory bKV. In the employee-financed variant, one speaks of an optional company health insurance.
Scope of insurance
Various service modules can be offered, selected and combined by the employer or employee, e.g. B .:
- Additional benefits for outpatient treatment or inpatient rehabilitation or hospital stays
- Health management in the company
- Alternative practitioner services
- Daily sickness allowance
- Emergency assistance, including short-term psychological advice for staff and relatives
- Travel health insurance
- Visual aids
- Under certain circumstances, benefits for the loss of executives (managing directors, department heads): reintegration measures, risk prevention
- dentures
- Dental care and treatment
Tax treatment
Insurance contributions to the company health insurance can represent both cash wages and wages in kind.
Initially, the Federal Ministry of Finance ordered in a letter dated October 10, 2013 (GZ IV C 5 - S 2334/13/10001) that the insurance premiums represent cash wages. The Federal Fiscal Court did not fully follow this legal opinion.
In order to differentiate whether it is wages in kind or in cash, according to the judgment of the Federal Fiscal Court of August 7, 2018 (VI R 13/16), it must be clarified which performance the employee can demand from his employer / which performance they have agreed .
If the employee is entitled to the insurance benefit for which the employer pays the contribution, it is a wage in kind. This means that the “EUR 44 limit” for remuneration in kind must be applied, i. H. The wages in kind are tax-free if they do not exceed EUR 44 per month (tax-free limit).
If, on the other hand, the employee is entitled to reimbursement or payment of the insurance premiums , the wages are in cash and the “EUR 44 limit” cannot be applied.
In addition to individual taxation - contributions are considered net remuneration - the contributions can also be taxed as other remuneration within the framework of flat-rate taxation in accordance with Section 40 (1) EStG. The flat-rate taxation must be applied for at the responsible business premises tax office. For the employer, expenses for the bKV are tax-deductible as business expenses.
See also
- Company pension scheme (bAV)
- Betriebskrankenkasse ( "Factory checkout")
- Company pension , Company Pension Act
- " Deferred compensation "
- Rürup pension