Insurance Premium Tax, by Country
Ireland's 3% stamp duty levy on non-life premiums is the lowest standard rate among the nine countries with a clean, citable national figure here; the Netherlands' 21% assurantiebelasting is the highest. The bigger story is how unevenly "one standard rate" actually works: France, Italy and Australia were all researched and dropped because motor insurance specifically carries a completely different rate from property and liability insurance in each of them.
Last updated 2 November 2026.
Average insurance premiums are set by insurers competing on risk, claims history and overhead — private-market prices, not a government figure, and not something this site publishes. Insurance Premium Tax is different: it's a percentage the government levies on top of whatever premium the market sets, published by the tax authority or written directly into statute.
Most countries that have an IPT run several different rates for different insurance classes. Every row here uses the rate that applies to the most common policy types — motor, property/home, general liability — not a special niche rate above or below it. The exact rate class is named in each row's note.
| Source | ||
|---|---|---|
🇳🇱 NetherlandsAssurantiebelasting: a flat 21% of the premium (and of any linked service fee), unchanged since 1 January 2013. Applies uniformly — no separate class for motor, property or liability. Care/health, life, funeral and disability/incapacity insurance are exempt. | 21% | [1] |
🇩🇪 GermanyVersicherungsteuergesetz (VersStG), §6(1): 19% is the general rate, covering motor, general liability and most property/casualty cover. Fire insurance is taxed higher, at 22% (§6(2)); home/contents insurance is nominally also 19% but charged on a reduced base (86%/85% of the premium), so its effective rate is a little lower than the headline figure. | 19% | [2] |
🇬🇧 United KingdomStandard rate of Insurance Premium Tax, unchanged since 1 June 2017 (raised from 10%): applies to motor, home/property and general liability insurance. A 20% higher rate applies only to travel insurance and to mechanical/electrical appliance cover and certain vehicle-linked policies sold alongside goods — a niche carve-out, not the general case. | 12% | [6] |
🇦🇹 AustriaVersicherungssteuer: 11% on property/casualty insurance (Sachversicherungen), covering general liability and property/home cover, and also the base rate on motor insurance premiums. Motor insurance additionally carries a separate tax calculated from the vehicle's engine power, not as a percentage of the premium, so it isn't folded into this figure. Other classes carry different rates: most life/disability 4%, health 1%. | 11% | [4] |
🇧🇪 BelgiumTaxe annuelle sur les opérations d'assurance, standard rate on ordinary non-life cover (motor, home, third-party liability): 9.25% is still the rate shown on insurers' own pages as of this update. A law adopted 30 May 2026 raises it to 9.6% for premiums falling due from 1 July 2026 onward — already in effect for many policies by the nature of this transition, since it applies policy-by-policy as each one's premium falls due, not as a single calendar cutover. Group insurance keeps a separate, lower 4.40% rate. | 9.25% | [3] |
🇵🇹 PortugalImposto do Selo (Stamp Duty), Tabela Geral item 22.1.5, the catch-all rate for insurance not otherwise listed: motor, property/home and general liability all fall under it. Lower rates apply only to named classes: suretyship 3%; accident, health, credit and agricultural insurance 5%; cargo-in-transit 5%. | 9% | [5] |
🇪🇸 SpainImpuesto sobre las Primas de Seguros: a flat 8% on the premium, raised from 6% effective 1 January 2021. This is a genuinely single, uniform rate — no separate class for motor, property or liability. Exempt: life insurance, reinsurance, health/sickness insurance, and international cargo/transport insurance. | 8% | [8] |
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandFederal stamp duty on insurance premiums (Stempelabgabe): 5% of the premium for liability, fire, casco (comprehensive motor/hull) and household insurance — covering motor, property and liability under one rate. Personal insurance (life with periodic premiums, sickness, accident, disability, unemployment) is exempt; single-premium redeemable life insurance is taxed separately at a reduced 2.5%. | 5% | [7] |
🇮🇪 IrelandNon-life insurance levy (Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999, s.125): a 3% stamp duty on the gross premium received by the insurer. It isn't called "insurance premium tax" locally but functions identically and covers motor, property and liability insurance. Voluntary health insurance carries a separate flat per-policy levy instead; life assurance is taxed separately at 1%. | 3% | [9] |
Why Insurance Premium Tax, not insurance prices. Average insurance premiums are private-market prices, not a government figure. Insurance Premium Tax is the one genuinely official, comparable number in a space mostly made of private pricing — a percentage the government itself levies on top of whatever premium the market sets.
One standard rate, not a blended one. Most of these countries run several IPT rates for different insurance classes — fire insurance taxed higher than general property in Germany, travel insurance taxed at nearly double the standard rate in the UK, single-premium life taxed lower than general cover in Switzerland. Every row here uses the rate that applies to the most common policy types — motor, property/home, general liability — not a niche rate above or below it.
Why France, Italy and Australia aren't here. All three were researched and dropped, not overlooked. In each, motor insurance specifically — one of the three reference classes this table tracks, not an obscure product — carries a fundamentally different rate from property and liability insurance in the same country: France taxes most property/liability cover at 9% but motor at 15-33%; Australia (New South Wales, the one state checked) taxes property/liability at 9% but motor at only 5%, on top of the rate varying state by state with no national figure at all; Italy's current consolidated tariff annex couldn't be confirmed as having one settled standard rate. Picking one of several genuinely different rates and calling it "the" rate for that country would misrepresent how the tax actually works there. South Africa and Japan are excluded for a different reason: neither has a dedicated insurance premium tax at all — South Africa applies ordinary VAT to short-term insurance, and Japan classifies insurance premiums as non-taxable.
What this table does not tell you. This is a tax rate on the premium, not the premium itself. A country with a low IPT rate can still have expensive insurance overall if its underlying market premiums are high, and vice versa — the two numbers move independently.
Currency and comparability. Every figure here is already a percentage, so no currency conversion is involved, unlike this site's fee-based hubs — a rate comparison here is a direct, like-for-like comparison.
Why isn't this just a table of average car or home insurance premiums?
Because those are private-market prices, not a government figure — insurers set them based on risk, claims and competition, and they're not comparable the way a statutory tax rate is. Insurance Premium Tax is the one part of the cost of insurance that's actually set and published by government, which is what this table prices.
Why do some countries have one IPT rate and others have several?
Tax authorities often give favourable or penalty rates to specific insurance classes — the UK taxes travel insurance at nearly double its standard rate; Switzerland taxes single-premium life lower than general cover; Germany taxes fire insurance higher than ordinary property cover. Every row in this table uses the rate that applies to the most common policy types (motor, property/home, general liability), not a niche exception, and says so explicitly in its note.
Why aren't France, Italy or Australia in this table?
Each was researched and dropped because motor insurance specifically carries a meaningfully different rate from property and liability insurance in that country, which defeats the idea of one "standard" rate. France taxes most property/liability cover at 9% but motor at 15-33%; New South Wales in Australia taxes property/liability at 9% but motor at 5% (and Australia has no single national rate at all, only state-by-state ones); Italy's current tariff annex couldn't be confirmed as having one standard figure at all.
Does a higher IPT rate mean insurance is more expensive in that country?
Not necessarily. IPT is a tax on the premium, not the premium itself — a country with a high IPT rate but naturally cheap underlying insurance can still end up cheaper overall than a country with a low rate but expensive underlying premiums. This table tells you what the government adds on top, not what insurance actually costs to buy.
- 1Assurantiebelasting – Tarief
Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax and Customs Administration)
21% of the premium and any linked service fee, unchanged since 1 January 2013. Fetched and read directly 2 November 2026.
- 2Versicherungsteuergesetz (VersStG), § 6 Steuersatz
Bundesministerium der Justiz (gesetze-im-internet.de)
§6(1): general rate 19%. §6(2): fire insurance 22%, home/contents insurance 19% on a reduced base. Independently fetched and read directly against the primary source 2 November 2026.
- 3Autres cotisations et taxes non perçues par l'INAMI
Institut National d'Assurance Maladie-Invalidité (INAMI) — Belgian federal government
States the standard rate of the taxe annuelle sur les opérations d'assurance is 9.25%. Fetched and read directly 2 November 2026, and the 9.25% figure independently re-confirmed against KBC's own insurance-tax page the same day. The rise to 9.6% for premiums falling due from 1 July 2026 (loi-programme of 30 May 2026) is corroborated by Lockton, Forvis Mazars and PwC but could not be independently read from the Moniteur belge or SPF Finances directly, both unreachable this session.
- 4Versicherungssteuer – Bemessungsgrundlage und Steuersätze
Bundesministerium für Finanzen (BMF), Austria
Sachversicherungen: 11%. Fetched and read directly 2 November 2026; the separate engine-power-based motor vehicle tax is confirmed via a secondary source, not independently read from BMF's own page on that specific sub-tax.
- 5Tabela Geral do Imposto do Selo — item 22 (Seguros)
Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira / Portal das Finanças
Item 22.1.5, 'Seguros de quaisquer outros ramos': 9%. Fetched and read directly 2 November 2026.
- 6Insurance Premium Tax rates
HM Revenue & Customs / GOV.UK
Standard rate 12% (since 1 June 2017), higher rate 20% (travel, mechanical/electrical appliance and certain vehicle-linked cover). Fetched and read directly 2 November 2026.
- 7Abgabe auf Versicherungsprämien – kurz erklärt
Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV) / Swiss Federal Tax Administration
5% standard rate on liability, fire, casco and household insurance premiums; 2.5% for single-premium redeemable life; personal insurance exempt. Fetched and read directly 2 November 2026.
- 8Ley 13/1996, de 30 de diciembre, de Medidas Fiscales, Administrativas y del Orden Social, Artículo 12
Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), consolidated text
Article 12.Once: 8% rate, raised from 6% effective 1 January 2021. Fetched and read directly 2 November 2026.
- 9Stamp Duty insurance levies
Revenue (Irish Tax and Customs)
Section 125 Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999: 3% levy on non-life premiums received on/after 1 June 2009. Fetched and read directly 2 November 2026.