According to the approved amendment to Act No. 580/2004 Coll. on Health Insurance and on the Amendment to Act No. 95/2022 Coll. on Insurance and on the Amendment of Certain Acts as amended (hereinafter minimum insurance premiums and minimum remuneration of the staff member
The principle is that insurance premiums and an advance on insurance premiums must be at least equal to the amount of insurance premiums and an advance on insurance premiums that would be paid in total by the employee and the employer of a staff member who has a minimum life income for one full-time natural person valid on 1 January of the calendar year concerned.
If the actual insurance premiums and advance payments for the insurance staff member and employer are in total lower, the staff member shall be obliged to pay the contributions up to that amount. This surcharge increases the insurance premiums and the premium advance per employee.
Who is not covered by the minimum premium?
Minimum premiums shall not apply to designated groups of employees, namely:
- employees who are also insured by the State (e.g. working pensioner, working student, etc.),
- disabled employees, entitled to a reduced premium rate.
These employees continue to pay health insurance contributions from actual income even if it is lower than the minimum wage.
What if the employee has more than one job or if he is an SZČ? And how does the employer know that the employee is an insured person?
If an employee is employed with more than one employer or if he is also an SZČ, he may opt out of the minimum advance. The minimum premium shall be calculated for such an employee and shall be taken into account only in the annual premium statement. The employee informs the employer about the application of the exemption by submitting a statement published on the website of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic (https://www.health.gov.sk/Sources?/Sources/documents/funding/model-min predpublik.rtf). The same applies to employees who are insured by the State and who have not yet been informed by the employer.
A member of staff who has made use of the derogation referred to above shall not be covered by the minimum advance clause and the premium advance for such an employee shall be determined in the same way as hitherto.
Since when does the minimum premium advance apply?
The minimum premium advance shall apply for periods from 1 January 2023. Thus, income for December 2022 (paid in January 2023) is not covered by the minimum advance. The minimum advance shall apply to the income for January 2023 (paid in February 2023).
Is the employer's pension burden increased?
No, the employer's levy burden does not change. Any supplement up to the minimum premium and minimum premium supplement shall be paid in full by the staff member.
How to round off monetary amounts in the calculation of the minimum premium advance?
The Act provides for § 16 (1) - The premium advance shall be rounded down to the nearest euro cent.
This provision concerns an advance in general, i.e. it also concerns a minimum advance.
The law states: The staff member's minimum advance shall be the sum of the advance per staff member's insurance premiums determined from the amount of the minimum life,47a) applicable on the first day of the calendar year determined pursuant to Article 16 (2) (a). (a) and an advance on the employer's insurance premiums for such an employee pursuant to § 16 (2) (a). (c).
If the monthly minimum subsistence figure is EUR 234,42 (as at January 2023) then, when setting the minimum advance, it is necessary to determine what amount the advance should be from the (fictitious) employee with a salary of EUR 234,42 (including 10% of the employer's levy).
The employee's contribution shall be: 234,42 x 4% = 9,3768. After rounding within the meaning of Paragraph 16 (1), it is EUR 9,37.
The employer's contribution is: 234,42 x 10% = 23,442. After rounding within the meaning of § 16 (1) it is EUR 23,44.
The minimum premium advance is the sum of these advances, i.e. 9,37 + 23,44 = EUR 32.81.
If the actual sum of the employee's and employer's advance for that employee is less than EUR 32,81, the employee's advance shall be increased by the amount of the difference.
How to proceed in cases where an employment relationship does not last for a month?
If the employment relationship does not last for a full month, the minimum advance amount shall be automatically reduced and thus the minimum advance shall be an advance on the insurance (fictitious) staff member who would have been employed with the employer in the part of the month in question with the minimum income.
Does the minimum advance also apply to work and work arrangements?
If these agreements constitute the pursuit of a gainful activity and are not among the exceptions (such as agreements concerning pensioners), then the minimum advance provisions also apply to these agreements. Of course, there is still a rule to reduce the minimum advance if the job agreement does not last for a month.
How to reconcile the existence of a minimum advance and a deductible item?
Where an advance on a staff member's insurance premiums is subject to the application of a deductible item, it shall be applied in the process of calculating the premium advance in the same way as it has been applied so far.
Consequently, if an employee is not subject to exceptions to the application of the minimum advance and if the actual sum of the employee's and employer's advance for that employee is less than the minimum advance, the employee's advance shall be increased by the amount of the difference.
How is the employer to fill in the statement of advances the item "NotAppliedMinimum' if the employee does not benefit from an exemption from the minimum advance for the entire period of the month in which he was employed but only for part of the month (e.g. if the employee became also an insured state during the month)? Specify the value of TRUE or FALSE?
The item Non-application of the minimum premium advance / NotAppliedMinimum will have the value of FALSE and the employee's advance item will be added to the minimum advance / DepositOfEmployeeAdd then a non-zero value can be stated. Value of TRUE in item The non-application of the minimum premium advance / NotAppliedMinimum specifies if the application of the derogation concerns the whole month (and thus under the heading Advance Staff member – the addition to the amount of the minimum advance / DepositOfEmployeeAdd is always zero), which is not the case.
Examples of calculating the premium advance with the applied minimum premium advance:
Example (without application of an allowance):
The insured person is employed part-time with a total income of EUR 20 per month. When calculating monthly premiums, the insured person not applicable the deductible item.
Income (per calendar month): EUR 20
Subtractable item: EUR 0
Assessment basis= Income – Deductible item = EUR 20 0 = EUR 20
Calculation of the advance:
- employer 10% of €20 = €2
- employee 4% of EUR 20 = EUR 0,80
- Minimum premium advance: EUR 32,81
- top-up of the minimum advance per insurance staff member: minimum advance payment of - (employer's advance + employee's advance) = € 32.81 (€2 + €0.80) = € 32.81 (€2 = EUR 30,01
- Total advance: A + B + D = EUR 2 + EUR 0,80 + EUR 30,01 = EUR 32.81
For the month in question, the employee therefore pays an advance of EUR 30,81 and the employer of EUR 2
Example (with application of the deductible item):
The insured person is employed part-time with a total income of EUR 300. On a monthly basis, you applied an allowance of EUR 300. When calculating monthly premiums, the insured person applicable allowance
Income (per calendar month): EUR 300
Subtractable item: EUR 300
Employee's assessment basis = Income – Subtractable item = 300 - 300 = 0 EUR
Calculation of the advance:
- employer 10% of €300 = €30
- Employee 4% of EUR 0 = EUR 0
- Minimum premium advance: EUR 32,81
- top-up of the minimum advance per insurance staff member: minimum advance payment of - (employer's advance + employee's advance) = EUR 32,81 (EUR 30 + EUR 0) = EUR 32,81 - EUR 30 = EUR 2,81
- Total advance: A + B + D = EUR 30 + EUR 0 + EUR 2,81 = EUR 32.81
For the month in question, the employee therefore pays an advance of EUR 2,81 and the employer of EUR 30