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Funding: tax, health insurers and budgets for health programs with genetic analyses

Reviewed by Dr. Daniel Wallerstorfer, molecular biologist and founder of Novogenia · Updated: 15 October 2026 · Reading time: 10 min

600 euros tax-free – but not for everything

600 euros per calendar year: that is how much a company in Germany can spend tax-free on the health of each employee (Section 3 no. 34 of the Income Tax Act, EStG). It sounds like the perfect budget pot for a program with genetic analyses. A closer look is still worthwhile, because the pot comes with a lid of clear rules.

Think of a house. The genetic analysis is the door opener: it makes health personal and is often what makes employees curious enough to walk through the door in the first place. What gets funded, though – if anything – are the rooms behind it: courses and workshops on physical activity, nutrition and stress management that meet certain criteria.

That is why we do not promise you any tax or funding advantages for genetic analyses. What we give you instead is an honest overview of the rules in Germany, Austria and Switzerland – so your budget delivers what it promises.

Germany: what Section 3 no. 34 EStG requires

The tax exemption has four conditions. All of them must be met:

The GKV-Spitzenverband’s criteria are set out in its Prevention Guide (Leitfaden Prävention, version of December 17, 2025). The guide sums it up itself: employer spending on certified behavioral prevention services – such as recognized courses – and on workplace health promotion services that meet the guide’s criteria is tax-free.

And the genetic analysis? An honest look

This is where the Prevention Guide gets very specific. For nutrition programs, it expressly rules out funding when any of the following is involved:

• advertising or selling products,
• using food supplements, formula diets or other products,
• special measurements of metabolic values, genetic analyses or allergy tests.

Similar exclusions apply to weight-loss courses, and behavioral nutrition measures in workplace health promotion expressly follow the same criteria. For workplace health promotion, the guide also excludes, among other things, isolated measures by external providers that are not embedded in an overall concept, as well as activities that serve one-sided advertising purposes for particular products.

The logical conclusion: plan neither the genetic analysis nor personalized supplements as tax-free or insurer-funded services. That is no reason for disappointment – it is a clear division of labor. The genetic analysis provides the personal spark, and the company pays for it from its own budget. The courses and workshops that turn the spark into lasting habits can qualify for funding if they meet the criteria. Which analyses suit employees is covered in Which offers suit employees.

Health insurers: support for structures, not for products

Statutory health insurers promote workplace health with services – above all by helping to build and strengthen health-promoting structures (Section 20b(1) SGB V). To do this, they assess the health situation together with the employees, those responsible for the company, company physicians and occupational safety specialists, develop proposals for improvement and support their implementation. For individual prevention courses within the company, the certification requirement applies accordingly (Section 20b(1), third sentence, with Section 20(5), first sentence).

A good first point of contact is the health insurers’ regional workplace health promotion coordination offices: they inform companies about the services and clarify which insurer provides services in the company in a given case (Section 20b(3) SGB V).

A sensible combination could look like this: the health insurer supports the needs assessment and eligible courses, and the company pays for the voluntary genetic analysis itself. Insurers that offer analyses to their members as a prevention component of their own are a different model – more on that in For workplace-health providers, insurers and consultants.

Non-cash benefits and payroll tax: what payroll checks

If Section 3 no. 34 EStG does not apply, the question lands with payroll. One rule that is often checked is the monthly exemption limit for non-cash benefits: they are disregarded if the benefits in total do not exceed 50 euros per calendar month (Section 8(2), sentence 11 EStG). This is not a health privilege but a limit for all of a month’s non-cash benefits combined. Whether and how an offer fits within it depends on what the company already provides – your tax adviser will clarify that.

One point is easily overlooked: if a benefit has to be recorded per person for payroll tax, payroll needs to know who received it. That can clash with the goal of the company learning as little as possible about who takes part. So clarify early with your tax adviser and data protection officer how payroll tax and confidentiality can be reconciled. More in Data protection and confidentiality of results.

Austria and Switzerland: their own rules

Austria: the monetary benefit from targeted, outcome-oriented health promotion (salutogenesis) and prevention is tax-free insofar as it is covered by the range of services of statutory health insurance – provided the employer makes it available to all employees or to certain groups of them (Section 3(1) no. 13(a) of the Income Tax Act 1988). So the decisive question is whether an offer is covered by statutory health insurance’s range of services. Clarify that for the genetic analysis with your tax adviser in advance instead of planning it as tax-free. The health insurance funds also offer health promotion and prevention programs aimed at specific groups and tailored to their everyday settings (Section 154b of the General Social Insurance Act, ASVG) – a possible point of contact for accompanying components.

Switzerland: health insurers promote disease prevention and, together with the cantons, run an institution that initiates, coordinates and evaluates health promotion measures (Art. 19 of the Health Insurance Act, KVG). It is financed through an annual contribution from every person with compulsory insurance (Art. 20 KVG). You should not infer funding for individual genetic analyses in a company from this. We do not cite a specific tax exemption for employer health benefits in Switzerland comparable to those in Germany or Austria; clarify the treatment with your fiduciary or tax adviser.

Planning the budget – without false promises

A program consists of more than the analysis. These components belong in your plan:

• Information: for example, a talk on nutrition and genes as a kick-off.
• Analyses: voluntary, with employees registering directly with the lab or partner.
• Support: workshops on physical activity, sleep and nutrition, voluntary one-to-one counseling by external professionals – this is where the chances of funding lie.
• Law and data protection: a review for every country in which employees take part.
• Communication: invitations and information materials that invite people to take part without pressure.

There are several ways to decide who pays for what: the company covers the analysis and the support; it covers only the support and employees order the analysis themselves; or a mix. In every model, personalized supplements remain a private, voluntary decision. And in every model, the employer gets the invoice, not the result.

Decide early which internal budget the program comes from – for example, the workplace health promotion budget or the employee benefits budget – and who checks the invoice. Ideally, that is a unit that makes no personnel decisions. That way, billing also stays on the right side of the firewall between health and employment.

Start with a manageable group, such as one site or one department, and evaluate the pilot through participation and anonymous feedback – not through health promises. How to do that in practice is shown in Measuring benefits and impact and Rollout: from kick-off to results.

Funding checklist

• Your tax adviser has reviewed how the analysis, accompanying offers and, where relevant, supplements are treated for tax purposes.
• No one is counting on a tax exemption or insurer funding for the genetic analysis itself.
• Eligible components such as certified courses are coordinated with the health insurer or the coordination office.
• Benefits under Section 3 no. 34 EStG come on top of wages, not through salary conversion.
• Payroll tax recording and confidentiality of participation have been reconciled.
• In Austria and Switzerland, the local rules have been clarified.
• The budget covers information, analyses, support, legal review and communication.
• No part of the program promises health outcomes or cost savings.

Frequently asked questions

Related: Measuring benefits and impact · For workplace-health providers, insurers and consultants · Sales channels: web shop, Amazon, practices, direct selling

Note: This guide is general information for businesses and professionals and does not replace medical or legal advice. The genetic traits determined in a genetic analysis are well documented (each gene included is backed by at least three independent studies); recommendations derived from them are logical conclusions, not scientifically proven. Regulations can change; errors and changes excepted.