BIK - Health Insurance

Clauric

I'm hoping I may get some help with regards to BIK for health insurance, as I am having a dispute with my employers. The issue is that I seem to be assessed a liability that is higher than the group scheme cost to my employer.

As part of every employees package, our employers pay for our health insurance and dental insurance. We are then assessed for BIK liability by Revenue (through our payroll).

The employee handbook states that the employer will subsidise the cost of one adult policy on their group scheme (employee has 500+ employees in Ireland).

The issue is that there seems to be a discrepancy between my HR team and the insurers. I have spoken to my HR team, who assure me that I have the wrong information, and I have spoken to my insurance company, and they assure me that the information I have is correct.

The breakdown of the numbers are as follows:

Cost of health insurance (according to insurer - website and phone): €1,295
Cost of dental insurance (according to insurer - website and phone): €143.33
Total cost: €1438.33

This is the value that the insurer says that my employer pays every year.

My BIK liability per month: €137.57
My annual liability: €1650.84

My employers have said that the numbers provided by the insurance company are net, and are not reflective of the actual amount of they pay. Further, having looked on HIA.ie, I can get the health insurance for €1410, and the dental for €252, which is about the same as my BIK liability.

Now, my questions are:
Are my employer's right, and I am liable for the full cost of the premia, and not the cost of the premium available in the group scheme?

If my employers are wrong, how do I get them to correct the BIK liabilities to the correct amounts? Can I ask them to show me the information they have on my policy, including the information they have received from the insurer, as well as their calculations?

Also, and I probably should have asked this earlier, is TRS taken into account on these premia, and my employer adding it back in to the BIK (is this even allowed)

MatureStudent

You need to confirm whether or not TRS has been deducted from the figures you quote from the website and phone.
Your employer pays 100% premium, not the amount you would pay directly, and you should claim a tax credit for the trs.
Note that TRS is also now limited to 1,000 or the premium whichever is lower.
Do you get a renewal notice from your insurer every year? If you do it should be clear from it how much is paid on your behalf.

Paddy001

Your employer is correct. You are being charged BIK on the total cost of the policy excluding TRS as your employer cannot claim your TRS. The TRS is capped at €1,000 per policy, per adult so the TRS is a max of €200.

You will note the difference is more or less €200 between the two figures. Your employer pays the net premium to the insurer and they will then repay the TRS to Revenue when filing their corporation tax return. You will then be entitled to this €200 as a credit.