Employee benefit plans

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Employee benefit plans

Employee benefit plans

13.     Employee benefit plans

Defined Contribution Plans

We have a defined contribution plan qualified under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code covering all U.S. employees and defined contribution plans for other Incyte employees in Europe and Japan.  Employees may contribute a portion of their compensation, which is then matched by us, subject to certain limitations. Defined contribution expense for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 was $3.3 million and $2.9 million, respectively.

Defined Benefit Pension Plans

We have defined benefit pension plans for our employees in Europe which provide benefits to employees upon retirement, death or disability. The assets of the pension plans are held in collective investment accounts represented by the cash surrender value of an insurance policy and are classified as Level 2 within the fair value hierarchy.

The net periodic benefit cost was as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2020		2019
Service cost	$	1,457	$	1,263
Interest cost		46		84
Expected return on plan assets		(30)		(60)
Amortization of prior service cost		54		45
Amortization of actuarial losses		167		66
Net periodic benefit cost	$	1,694	$	1,398

The components of net periodic benefit cost other than the service cost component are included in other income (expense), net on the condensed consolidated statements of operations. We expect to contribute a total of $4.0 million to the pension plans in 2020 inclusive of the amounts contributed to the plan during the current period. As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, $24.6 million and $24.1 million, respectively, of accrued pension obligation is recorded in other long term liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets.