Health insurance and tax returns
Your tax return benefits
Since 2010, health insurance providers have been able to transmit data electronically to the tax office under the Citizens’ Relief Act (Bürgerentlastungsgesetz). When your paid and reimbursed contributions, bonus and reward payments, and unemployment benefits are reported, this allows you to record all payments in your tax return, since the tax office only recognises data transmitted electronically.
This section explains everything about health insurance-related reporting to the tax office. If you have further questions, please contact your personal consultant – feel free to use our contact form. We will call you back as soon as we can to answer your questions.
Information on reporting data to the tax office
Tax-related information on the SBK Retention Tariff
Based on tax regulations, we report the maximum possible reward to the tax authorities. It is irrelevant whether
- the full reward has been paid,
- the reward has been partially paid out and offset against services used,
- the reward has been fully offset against services used, or
- the services you have used exceed the amount of the reward and the health insurer has reclaimed benefits.
Timing of reporting for the SBK Retention Tariff:
- 2021: Participation in the SBK Retention Tariff
- 2022: Settlement of the SBK Retention Tariff and distribution of rewards in August 2022
- 2023: Reporting of the maximum possible reward per tariff level to the tax office in January 2023
You can find all information on the SBK Retention Tariff here.
Tax-free bonus payments of up to €150 in the period 2021–2023
On 16 December 2021, the Federal Ministry of Finance announced a new regulation on the reporting of bonus payments, which could significantly reduce your tax burden. According to this, bonus payments from the cash bonus from bonus activities not paid by the insured person in the period 2021–2023 are tax-free up to €150 per insured person and are not reported to the tax office. Bonus activities not paid by the insured person include, for example, statutory check-ups and vaccinations.
From 2024, all non-self-financed bonus payments from the cash bonus will be reported to the tax authorities – regardless of their amount.
Tax-related information about the SBK Bonus Scheme
Since 2018, the SBK Bonus Scheme has provided the option of choosing how you would like to receive your bonus:
- as a cash bonus with money paid to your bank account
- as a health bonus, which you can use as tax-exempt reimbursement for sports equipment, glasses or similar health-related things.
Whether SBK is required to report your bonus to the tax office depends on which bonus option you choose. An overview is provided here:
Bonus option | Reported by SBK to tax office | Specified in your tax return |
---|---|---|
Cash bonus | Yes | Yes |
Health bonus | No | No |