Health Insurance Work Paying Health Insurance

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MsCutha

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Hi, Just wondering if anyone knows how it works please?
I started a new job and joined the HI which is paid for by company for myself, other half and 2 kids under 6. Second month after I joined first deduction was 681, second month 681 (I was told it will even out after a month or two) third month 306 and fourth month 306.
We previously had a plan with Laya for 191 monthly and it was for hospital cover as we also have HSF.
Just wondering if it is worth paying out that much considering we rarely use it or should I go back to paying for it privately? Spoke to payroll and they talked about being on the higher rate of tax meant 51% tax is paid from my wages for the HI. At this rate it will work out as 3600 a year which is way too high.
Can someone please explain benefits in kind on a 60K wage? Thanks.
 
The figures don't add up to me... If your employer is paying for the health insurance why are you seeing it as a deduction?
It should be an addition to your salary.

The cost to you will be the tax on the premiums paid by the company on your behalf.

You will also be entitled to relief per person on the policy (which you would also get if paying yourself directly).
The relief is provided at the standard rate limited to the cost of the policy up to:
A maximum of €1,000 per adult (equal to a credit of up to €200)
€500 per child (equal to a credit of up to €100).

For the purposes of this relief, a child is any individual under 21 years of age.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/personal-...and-age/medical-insurance-premiums/index.aspx

Make sure on your tax credits cert you see a credit for medical insurance relief of €3000 @20% = €600.

You were paying 2400 a year plus the cost of your HSF plan.

At most here you are paying 681x2 + 306x10 at 51% which is less than that.

Finally, could you ask your employer if it is possible to select a cheaper plan?
 
Thanks for your reply Odyssey.
On the LHS of payslip it shows med allowance 355.83. Under the deductions tab it shows 306.18.
There's nothing on my tax credit cert regarding credit for medical insurance.
I joined the scheme at end of Jan and the first deduction of 681 was march, second deduction 681 Apr, 306 each for may and Jun which made me question what was going on. Payroll don't seem to know because he kept saying you get an allowance of 1000 per adult. Also the renewal is Aug 1st. We still pay HSF at E63/month which we use more than the health insurance to be honest, just don't want to be overpaying for HI. Am I right in thinking it will cost me more to get a separate plan? I'm usually good at these sort of things but HI has my head wrecked.
 
You need to ask payroll or hr for the names of the plans and the gross and net premiums they are paying on your behalf. You need that to claim tax credit and to get better idea of potential cost.

If the deductions are for BIK tax it would mean the premiums for a year would be 7000 - 8000 euros which seems very high.

At the moment I cant get a clear pic if they are paying all of the premiums or copaying and for what cover. Are they actually paying for the children or are you,?
Is the payroll 1000 limit the amount they copay or are they just quoting revenue tax credit limits.

If there is no option to switch to a cheaper plans and you cant get more info then maybe revert to your previous self cover for some or all of the fanily.
 
Pretty simply if you employer is paying for everything you should just be paying tax at your marginal rate on the cost of the premium less the tax credit available
 
Thanks for the replies, I think I confused myself, we're with Irish Life BeFit 2.1 and moving to Irishlife 4D Health 2 from Aug 1st. Company pays 2685 for 2 adults and 2 children according to Irish Life. I have looked at my payslips again and the med allowance for Mar and Apr is 792 and deduction was 681. For May and Jun allowance was 355 and deductions was 306.
 
Those figures still don't add up to me, actually they are making less sense now that I see the premium of the policies. I think your payroll has made a big mistake somewhere it's as if they are charging you for an annual premium in the space of a few months or else they have a strange accounting system.

If it's €2685 for annual premium then in the 4 months March - June there's already deductions of €1974. 8 more months of 306 and is another €2408.

The prices for both plans per adult and child listed here there's not much between them:
[broken link removed]

If the company are paying your premium, you shouldn't be seeing deductions of those amounts.
You should either be seeing an additional BIK on top of your salary which then leads to you paying slightly more in tax.

The cover should only be costing you approx €1000 - €1300 in additional tax per year so much less than if you were paying for it yourself, so about €100 extra per month in tax.
 
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My employer pays half of my HI & I pay the other half. Im trying to understand if I should be claiming a tax credit for the half that I pay. But I see the following note on my renewal letter from Laya

A Government Levy applies to all health insurance policies. This calculates at €888.00 for this policy. The total net subscription figure is net of all tax reliefs and takes into account a portion of the Government Levy. *REC is the Risk Equalisation Credit payable by the government on behalf of members over the age of 60. Please refer to your rules/check-up documentation for information on Lifetime Community Rating (LCR)

Am I right in thinking that I should not claim tax credits for myself and my wife? Also, how do I know that Laya has reduced the premium by the value of the tax credits?

Thank you
 
I don't know about the 50-50 situation, if it shows on your payslip as a BIK then you should contact revenue to see if any credits can be claimed against that.
Your own finance \ HR department should be able to advise you if the premium paid was gross or included any tax relief at source.
 
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