Claiming tax relief on when paying for treatment for others.

J

John Rambo

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Hi there, and a happy new year to everyone.There are some threads which touch on this subject but I'm just looking for some reassurance. Within the next three months I am paying for medical procedures for two different people (for clarity one is my girlfriend and other is my brother)Is it true that I can claim tax relief for both procedures at the 41% rate?Any help greatly appreciated, cheers.
 
As far as I know you can claim for any qualifying MED1/2 expenses that you incur for yourself or others that are not otherwise reimbursed (e.g. by the individuals, private health insurance, HSE, SW etc.) but only after the relevant tax year has ended (i.e. post December 2008 in this case).
 
John Rambo said:
I am paying for medical procedures for two different people (for clarity one is my girlfriend and other is my brother)Is it true that I can claim tax relief for both procedures at the 41% rate?
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You cannot claim relief for medical expenses incurred by your girlfriend as she is not a relative. However, you can claim relief for expenses incurred by your brother.

Relief can be claimed to the extent that you or your brother did not receive any re-imbursement from VHI, Quinn Healthcare or Vivas health insurers.

The following is from the Revenue Commissioners' website:

Who can I claim Medical Expenses for?

You can claim Medical Expenses incurred by you:
  • On your own behalf
  • On behalf of a dependant. (A dependant is any relative of yours or any other person who at any time during the year of claim is aged 65 years or over or who is permanently incapacitated by reason of mental or physical infirmity.)
  • On behalf of a relative. A relative is defined as:
    • Husband, wife, ancestor, lineal descendant, brother or sister
    • Mother or father of your spouse
    • Brother or sister of your spouse
    • Spouse of your son or daughter
    • Your child, Any other child, who in the year of the claim, is in your custody and maintained at your expense and under 18 years of age, or if over 18 years of age, is receiving full-time education.
 
Sorry - I assumed that expenses for a non married partner also qualified but seemingly not.
 
Thanks guys...at least I'll get relief on my brother's treatment. Interesting that the Revenue refer to "ancestors" rather than mother, father, granny etc. Probably for brevity. It's a little unfair that I can't claim for my fiance (I know I said girlfriend earlier!) Perhaps the civil parnership legislation coming down the tracks will address this anomaly. And just to clarify, I am correct that the relief is at 41%?
 
ClubMan said:
but only after the relevant tax year has ended (i.e. post December 2008 in this case).
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You can claim in line with your private health insurance year if you've not previously claimed in line with the tax year, whichever you decide you stick to that 12 month window going forward.

John Rambo said:
And just to clarify, I am correct that the relief is at 41%?
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If you've paid enough tax at that rate.
 
John Rambo said:
And just to clarify, I am correct that the relief is at 41%?
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If you have sufficient income taxable at 41% then yes, otherwise it would be 41% up to that amount of income exposed to 41% tax and 20% on the rest.
 
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I'm within the PAYE system but I also have other income which I settle by tax return at the end of October...should I wait until January 2009 and claim this money back via MED 1 or stick it in my tax return next October and just withhold the money myself? Or does it (as I suspect) make no difference which avenue I go down apart from the cash flow implications of having a few grand a couple of months earlier?I appreciate the assistance...thanks guys (or girls!)
 
Graham_07 said:
If you have sufficient income taxable at 41% then yes, otherwise it would be 41% up to that amount of income exposed to 41% tax and 20% on the rest.
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Thanks Graham and Bluecross...the treatment for my brother is about €5,000 meaning I can claim back just over €2,000. Does that mean I need to have €5,000 or €2,000 of income taxable at 41%? I do, the question is more out of curiosity.
 
To get 41% relief on €5K you would need to have paid 41% tax on this €5K.
 
You can claim for non-relatives. The Revenue leaflet is out of date.

Finance Act 2006 removed the reference to relatives in the section dealing with medical expenses, so you can claim tax relief on the unreimbursed medical expenses you incurr, regardless of who received the treatment.
 

That's great news Nige...thank you!
 

That's news to me. Nige, have you a link to where this info might be included in the Finance Act 2006.
 
Tom, apologies, it's Finance Act 2007, section 9(1)(b) amends section 469 of the TCA 1997 to remove references to dependent relatives.
 
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