Since October 15th, 2021, RT-PCR and antigen Covid tests are no longer systematically covered by the French Health Insurance. The reference price for RT-PCR tests, carried out by medical biology laboratories, is € 43.89 and it varies from € 22.02 to € 45.11 for antigenic tests.
Employers could be tempted to reimburse the cost of these tests to their employees who are subject to the Health Pass obligation, either because of the nature of the company’s activity or because they are travelling for work to a country which requires such tests.
The French Government has recently specified that:
- employers have no obligation to reimburse the cost of RT-PCR and antigen tests to their employees,
- these costs cannot be considered as professional expenses.
Consequently, employers can decide to reimburse their employees expenses which are related to these tests, but such reimbursement would be considered in this case as a taxable benefit and would be completely subject to both social contributions and employee income tax.