Daňové odporúčania pre farmaceutické spoločnosti: Na čo nezabudnúť pri poskytovaní spätných finančných zliav?

Two years ago, we drew your attention to the then impending amendment to Act No. 363/2011 on the Scope of and Conditions for the Reimbursement for Medicinal Products, Medical Devices and Dietetic Food Based on Public Health Insurance. Once enacted, this amendment introduced new special conditions for the reimbursement of a medicinal product in the form of a retrospective financial discount. Marketing authorization holders (MAH) provide such a discount to health insurance companies (HICs) for each package of medicinal product, the value of which the HICs also reimburse to health or pharmacy care providers.

We would like to stress the difference between retrospective financial discounts and paybacks, which MAHs remit to HICs when they have reached the reimbursement limit for a medicinal product within a relevant period. This means that there may be situations where a pharmaceutical company is not required to remit paybacks (e.g., having not exceeded the reimbursement limit) but must still  provide a retrospective financial discount to an HIC in accordance with their agreement.

If your contract requires you to provide this type of discount, either as the MAH or on their behalf, we recommend that you also review it from a tax perspective. Specifically, this concerns the need to revise related contractual documentation and address the issue of eligibility for a VAT refund after application of the discount. It is also important to consider appropriate contractual structuring of relationships between an MAH and the entity that supplies medicines and provides a retrospective financial discount to the HIC.

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If you would like to learn more about the tax implications of retrospective financial discounts, do not hesitate to contact the author of this article or your contact person at EY Slovakia.