2023-09-07 22:09:31
High-earning employees will have to pay up to 800 euros more in social security contributions next year than this year. This results from the regular increase in the contribution assessment limits for social insurance on January 1st, the key figures for which are now available.
If health insurance contributions increase by up to 0.4 percentage points of gross wages next year, as health insurance representatives fear, there would be an additional burden of 124.20 euros each for employees and employers. The contribution assessment limits regulate the level up to which wages are subject to the obligation to pay contributions. With the upcoming adjustment, the limit for contributions to pension and unemployment insurance in the West will increase by 250 euros to 7,550 euros per month; in the east there is an increase of 350 euros to 7,450 euros per month.
The reason for the larger increase there is the gradual east-west alignment of the calculation rules for the statutory pension. The following calculations by the FAZ show what this means in detail: For employees in the East whose gross earnings are over 7,450 euros, contributions will be due on an additional 350 euros of their salary from January onwards – namely 18.6 percent for the pension and 2. 6 percent for the unemployment insurance fund. The result is additional contribution payments of 890 euros per year, 445 euros each for employers and employees. For high earners in the West, this additional burden amounts to up to 636 euros, and 318 euros each for employers and employees.
The health insurance limit is also increasing
At the same time, at the turn of the year, the national limit for health and nursing care insurance will increase by 187.50 euros to 5,175 euros per month in the future. For legally insured high earners, health insurance and nursing care contributions will be due from January onwards on an additional 187.50 euros of their wages. With today’s contribution rates of 16.2 percent (general and additional health insurance contributions) and 4 percent (care contribution plus surcharge for those without children), this will result in an additional burden of 361 euros for these employees in 2024; Together with the additional burden of up to 445 euros for pension and unemployment contributions, this amounts to a total of 806 euros.
The 361 euros for health and nursing care insurance also takes into account that the nursing care contribution rates were increased in the middle of this year. For those without children, they increased from 3.4 to 4 percent of gross wages. Of the total increase of 0.6 percentage points, 0.35 points were attributable to the general care contribution, which is financed on a parity basis. In contrast, the surcharge for childless people, which was increased by 0.25 percentage points, is paid by the employees alone.
Taken alone, the new assessment limit for health and nursing care insurance will mean additional costs of 19.51 euros per month for high-earning employees in 2024 – if the monthly burden in the second half of 2023 is used as a benchmark. Calculated over the year, this would be 234 euros more. However, if you look at the years 2023 and 2024 as a whole, then the care contribution increase in the middle of the year is also significant when comparing the burden. It amounts to 21 euros per month, a total of 127 euros in half a year.
Ole Kaiser Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 48 Dietrich Creutzburg Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 63 Dietrich Creutzburg, Christian Geinitz and Kerstin Schwenn, Berlin Published/Updated: Recommendations: 36
The increase in the assessment limits is based on a legal requirement for the Federal Ministry of Labor to adjust the scope of social insurance annually to the general increase in wages. Otherwise, high earners would gradually outgrow the protection and access of social security. In pension and unemployment insurance, high earners benefit from this increase in that they also acquire higher pension entitlements through the additional contribution payments and, in the event of unemployment, receive more unemployment benefit.
Employees are threatened with a mathematical increase in contributions
This advantage does not exist in health and nursing care insurance, as all insured persons should be treated equally regardless of the amount of their contribution payment. In addition to this regular increase in the contribution payments of high earners, all those with statutory health insurance are currently threatened with a further increase in health insurance contributions.
The umbrella association for statutory health insurance warned in early summer that the system was threatened with a deficit of up to 7 billion euros in 2024. In order to close such a financial gap, a contribution increase of 0.4 percentage points would be necessary. Whether this will happen is currently still open. The official tax and social security fund estimates in the fall are likely to provide a more precise picture.
An increase of 0.4 percentage points would mean that the sum of the general fund contribution and the average additional contribution would in future be 16.6 instead of 16.2 percent. For insured people with wages of more than 5,175 euros, this would mean that they and their employers would each have to pay 124.20 euros more per year. In the worst case scenario, together with the 806 euros due to the higher contribution assessment limits, this would result in an additional burden of a total of 930 euros for high-earning employees in the East.
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