Health insurance contributions on reimbursement of travel expenses for board members appointed by resolution

Reimbursement of travel expenses for board members is, as a rule, exempt from personal income tax and social security contributions.

However, the situation is not so clear-cut when it comes to health insurance contributions and board members remunerated on the basis of a resolution. Even the President of the National Health Fund has commented on this issue.

Travel expense reimbursements – PIT and contributions

As far as income tax is concerned, the situation is clear – reimbursement of travel expenses incurred in the course of official duties is exempt from PIT. This applies to all board members, regardless of whether they hold their position on the basis of an appointment, an employment contract, or a management contract.

However, the problem begins with health insurance contributions. For employees and managers under management contracts, travel expense reimbursements are excluded from the contribution base under the Regulation on the detailed rules for determining the basis for calculating pension and disability contributions.

However, this regulation does not apply to persons remunerated on the basis of an appointment resolution. This is a key difference which, as confirmed by the President of the National Health Fund, leads to the imposition of contributions on travel expense reimbursements.

Conclusions from the interpretation of the President of the National Health Fund

The company that requested the interpretation argued that the reimbursement of travel expenses of management board members should not result in the obligation to pay health insurance contributions, since these amounts are exempt from personal income tax. The President of the National Health Fund did not agree with this position.

He pointed out that (quote): “All income related to the performance of functions on the basis of an act of appointment constitutes the basis for determining the health insurance contribution”.

This means that the reimbursement of travel expenses is treated as income “related to the performance of functions” and is therefore subject to health insurance contributions if the board member is remunerated on the basis of an appointment.

As a result, the same amount of travel expense reimbursement may be treated differently depending on the basis for performing the function. This is because travel expense reimbursements made to a member of the management board remunerated on the basis of an appointment (subject to health insurance contributions) should be treated differently from those remunerated on the basis of a management contract or an employment contract (exempt from contributions).

What entrepreneurs should do

The above approach is certainly not intuitive, and in practice it is easy to overlook this nuance when making payments to members of the management board. It is therefore worth:

1. Analyzing the regulations and resolutions concerning the rules for settling business trips of members of the management board.
2. Verify the method of calculating health insurance contributions to avoid the risk of arrears to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS).
3. Consider alternative forms of remuneration for the management board if travel expense reimbursements are a significant part of the benefits.

The interpretation of the President of the National Health Fund is not binding on ZUS, but it is an important signal of how the authorities may treat such benefits. In practice, we expect ZUS to take a similar approach.

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Legal basis:

• Art. 21(1)(16) of the Personal Income Tax Act of July 26, 1991.
• Art. 66(1)(35a) of the Act of August 27, 2004 on healthcare services financed from public funds.
• 2(1)(15) in conjunction with § 5(2)(2) of the Regulation of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy of December 18, 1998, on detailed rules for determining the basis for calculating pension and disability contributions.

Cited case law:

• Decision No. 1/2025/BP of the President of the National Health Fund of January 15, 2025, ref. no. NFZ-BP.5202.71.2024 2025.16730.BAST.