The health insurance for the people working on the basis of a contract under the law of obligations is related to the submission of the tax return

At the beginning of this year entered into force the amendment to the Health Insurance Act, which changed the conditions for receiving health insurance coverage for a member of the management and control body of a legal entity and by a person receiving labor and service fees on the basis of a contract under the law of obligations.

Now, even those people who work on the basis of one or more contracts under the law of obligations, or are members of the management and control bodies of one or more legal entities have the possibility to obtain health insurance. For the employees working on the basis of a contract under the law of obligations, the prerequisite for obtaining insurance is that the minimum amount of the social tax (this year EUR 128.70) taken together from all the contracts per month has been met, i.e., the total gross monthly salary of the employee from all contracts is at least 390 euros. Previously, there was no possibility of summation and the employees working under a number of contracts, the number of contracts of whom guaranteed the wages of EUR 390 and the taxes declared, did not get insurance.

Note, however, that if in the past in the case of an employment contract, and before this year, also in the case of a contract under the law of obligations, the beginning and end of the health insurance was tied to the beginning and the end date of the contract and to the corresponding entry in the working register, then now in case of a contract under the law of obligations, the beginning and the stopping of the health insurance is related to submission of a tax return to the Tax and Customs Board. The insurance arises after the submission of the tax return and stops when on the day following the deadline for submission of the next tax return, the minimum obligation of the payment of the social tax has not been met.

In the case of a contract under the law of obligations, on the emergence of health insurance, the 14 days of standby time and at the termination of the labor relations, the 2-month warranty period, such as in the case of the workers working under the contract of employment, are not applied.

The employer has the obligation arising from the Social Tax Act to declare the social tax by the 10th day of the month following the payment. You can check your health insurance at the state portal www.eesti.ee sending a digitally signed enquiry info [at] haigekassa.ee (info[at]haigekassa[dot]ee) or by calling the Health Insurance Fund information line.

In the case of an LOA-contract, the parties have the opportunity to agree on the payment conditions, the Health Insurance Fund recommends that if possible, they are to be distributed across the months, and to declare the a monthly social tax at least from the minimum amount, not to make big one-off payments. By declaring the social tax from the minimum amount each month, a person gets health insurance for a longer period.