Medical insurance plans and check-ups

Medical Insurance Relief

You may pay medical insurance premiums for your employees. This is a benefit in kind (BIK) . They must pay Income Tax, Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) and Universal Social Charge (USC) on the gross premium. This is the amount due before you deduct Medical Insurance Relief from the premium amount. 

Your employee can apply to Revenue for a Medical Insurance Relief Tax Credit. Please see the Medical insurance premiums section for further information.

Permanent Health Insurance (PHI) cover

You may take out an insurance policy to cover the cost of sick pay expenses for your employees. This is not considered a PHI policy for tax purposes as the proceeds would be paid to your business. In these circumstances, no BIK charge would arise for an employee.

Specific PHI cover

Specific PHI cover is a taxable benefit if you take out a policy to cover the sick pay expenses of a specific employee or director. The proceeds of these policies would be paid directly to the employee or director. The taxable value of the benefit is the premium amount paid. 

Employer contributions to PHI schemes

You may operate a scheme where you and your employees both contribute to insurance premiums. This scheme must have Revenue approval. Please see the Tax and Duty Manual Part 15-01-10 for further details. The tax relief granted on PHI contributions is subject to a maximum of 10% of the individual's income for the year.

The combined contribution cannot be more than the 10% limit. If the overall PHI contribution exceeds 10% of your employee's income, you must deduct Pay As You Earn (PAYE), PRSI and USC from the excess over 10%. If the policy does not have Revenue approval, the total premium you pay is a BIK.

In-house medical plans

You may run an in-house medical plan which your employees contribute to, and make claims from. Where you, as the employer, make no contribution to this plan, you will not be required to apply a BIK charge. 

If you make contributions to your in-house medical plan, you must seek Revenue approval to confirm that a BIK charge does not apply. You can seek approval from your Revenue office using MyEnquiries on the Revenue Online Service (ROS).

You may choose to employ, or pay, a retainer to a general practitioner. If you do, any benefit received by your employees shall not be treated as a taxable BIK.

Medical check-ups

You may pay for one medical check-up each year for each employee. This is not a taxable benefit where the medical check-up is available to all employees.

Note

The one check-up limit for medical services does not apply if an employment contract requires an employee to have more than one medical check-up per year.