Companies want compensation for COVID-19 tests, but the government does not promise anything Business

Some Seimas members say the financial incentives for employers to test their employees are still sufficient.

Vice Minister of Economy and Innovation Vincas Jurgutis announced in the Seimas Economic Committee this week that the reimbursement of the tests is already being coordinated with the Ministry of Health (SAM). However, the latter BNS did not provide further information on this either.

“The experts participate only as advisers, and the process is in the hands of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation,” the minister’s spokeswoman, Aistė Šuksta, told BNS.

At the time, companies are requesting a government-convened council of health experts to decide more quickly on compensation for employee testing.

“We receive many inquiries from companies about such support. Such a measure would provide greater confidence and a fairer behavior: the desire to carry out the test, which is one of the means to prevent the spread of the virus in combination with vaccination,” say the authors of the initiative.

There are financial incentives for employers to test employees

Kazys Starkevičius, chairman of the Seimas Economic Committee, says companies are not very willing to pay for employee tests because they are expensive.

“Companies have tried testing, but testing is expensive. Some companies say they need to make sure test prices don’t skyrocket into space. They say they can contribute, but on the condition that those who test don’t do business with that ”, the parliamentarian told BNS.

At that time, the president of the Seimas Budget and Finance Committee, the conservative Mykolas Majauskas, pointed out that so far the company has not presented any proposal regarding the compensation of tests.

“If we receive applications from companies, we will consider them,” the MP told BNS.

Conservative Antanas Matulas, director of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee, claims to know employers who test their employees and do not ask for any compensation. However, he acknowledges that universal testing would be beneficial.

“It is contagious in workplaces, hospitals and families. It would be logical for some companies to have extensive and specific tests to discover the real situation,” he told BNS.

Among other things, A. Matulas pointed out that rapid antigen tests are lacking in Lithuania.

“Rapid antigen tests would save the situation … But we don’t have much.” It’s a big gap because we don’t have a very serious instrument to handle a pandemic, “he said.

M. Majauskas assured that there are economic incentives for employers to test their employees.

“The STI has clarified that the tests and their performance are related to occupational safety, so these costs are deducted from the tax base. This reduces the income tax. Employees receiving such service would not have to pay additional personal income taxes, ”he told BNS.

Daiva Čibirienė, President of the Lithuanian Association of Accountants and Auditors, reminds that the invoice should be sent to the company and not to the employee personally.

‘All costs necessary to ensure safety at work and services, including inspections of workers for coronavirus, will be included in the allowable deductions. Unless the invoice is not issued to the company, but to the employee personally, “he said.

The corporate income tax reaches 15 percent. or 5 percent. (when the company employs up to 10 people and the income does not exceed 300 thousand euros), and the companies that operate during the first year are subject to a zero rate.

Incentives for companies are not enough, offer to compensate tests like drugs

However, the president of the Lithuanian Business Confederation, Andrius Romanovskis, assures that the current tax benefits are not enough for companies that wish to evaluate employees with their own funds.

“Antigen testing can cost around 10,000 people a month for a company with 100 employees. euros. It’s a lot of money, “he calculated.

Rimas Varkulevičius, President of the Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, also agrees that including testing costs in costs does not reduce the financial burden on the company. It offers to reimburse the tests through tax offsets, with the exception of Sodra contributions.

“It is enough that the state allows compensation through taxes. After all, no money is needed, no one will ask the state for cash,” the head of the chamber told BNS.

Danas Arlauskas, President of the Lithuanian Employers’ Confederation, would like the grants to cover the minimum allowable costs to offset the tests. This would require a slight increase in profits, but only for the companies most affected by the crisis.

“I do not think it is necessary to compensate companies that have increased their profits and COVID-19 has opened up new competitive opportunities, so we only need to talk about companies that have suffered,” said D. Arlauskas.

A. Romanovskis proposes to apply these offsets in a similar way to drugs, and they could be used by people who work in the most important sectors of the state.

“Almost in accordance with the principle of reimbursable drugs, the state could reimburse a fixed amount for antigen tests in certain sectors, whose operation is very important. We are already talking here about the provision and production of some services that sustain the economy. People pay for PSD, the compensation would be PSDF, ”said A. Romanovskis.

According to D. Čibirienė, the testing service could be included in the list of other medical services, determining how many such tests could be performed for free per month.

“Maybe it could be financed directly through the Health Insurance Funds and the residents would be screened for free. If you have an employer, you are insured, if the employer is not in debt to Sodra … It would be the same as with all treatment services, ”he suggested.