No tax relief on laser eye surgery performed abroad

Hi all,

We've been discussing laser eye surgery in the Good Deals/Bad Deals section and need your expert opinions. The basic, rough sums:

Cost of laser in Ireland = E2400 (E4000-tax relief @~40%)
Cost of laser in UK = E2500, but no tax relief, according to the Revenue Commissioners, as the procedure is available in Ireland and you only get tax relief if the procedure is not available here.

Leaving aside the obvious conclusion that surgeons in Ireland are pitching their prices at that level because it matches, after tax, the UK prices, it has been suggested that it might be illegal for the Revenue to refuse tax relief on procedures done abroad - perhaps under free trade rules or suchlike. After all, they tax us on what we earn abroad... :\

Your thoughts?

Hi,

I'm not sure where you saw that the tax relief may only be claimed where the procedure is not available in Ireland. This, to the best of my knowledge, is not contained in the legislation governing medical expenses. In the past I have known the Revenue to allow the cost of air fares to have the eye procedure done.

If it is claimed in a Revenue publication I would ask them for a legislative reference as I don't think there is one.

Hi
I posted a comment on Good Deals/Bad Deals regarding reclaiming dental expenses for work carried out in the North. I heard a tax expert of Today FM last night say, yes you can reclaim for dental work done in the North, so possibly it applies to Laser eye treatment also.

Aha! Success!

I rang the (Cork) tax office again, which had advised me that I could not claim for the procedure abroad if it was available in Ireland and by chance, got through to the same woman to whom I had spoken before. We had a lengthy discussion about the interpretation of the following:

"Where qualifying health care is only available outside Ireland, reasonable travelling and accommodation expenses can also be claimed."

She asserted that this meant nothing could be claimed for the procedure, either, unless it was unavailable in Ireland; I argued that it referred only to the travelling and accommodation expenses. I finally gave up arguing and accepted the reference she gave me to the Tax Consolidation Act 97, section 469... which of course, says nothing of the kind.

I rang the Dublin PAYE office instead and had the good fortune to speak to someone who had himself had laser surgery done in the North and had claimed it back and he thus assured me it was claimable. So my sums are now:

Ireland: E4000-tax relief=E2600
UK: E2500-tax relief=E1500

Score!

Aside: I rang the Cork office back to ask that the person who had mis-advised me be given the correct information, but was told that "we're too busy to be e-mailing other people."

To paraphrase Sam Goldwyn, verbal "advice" from the Revenue is not worth the paper it is written on.

Delighted Oinseach: heard that program on the car radio this evening myself and actually though of you. I live in quite near the border and have given thought to this op myself. Maybe give it more thought later in the year. Good Luck.

"Where qualifying health care is only available outside Ireland, reasonable travelling and accommodation expenses can also be claimed."

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How someone working in the tax office could interpret that sentence in the way you describe just astounds me, and worries me, and maddens me ...

It doesnt give me a whole lot of pleasure to say that I think the lady in the tax office was correct in relation to the travel and accommodation costs.

The statement says...

Where qualifying health care is only available outside Ireland, reasonable travelling and accommodation expenses can also be claimed

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It doesn't say

Where someone chooses to avail of qualifying healthcare outside Ireland because it is cheaper for them than the equivalent services within Ireland, reasonable travelling and accommodation expenses can also be claimed

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There is a difference.

On the point of claiming the cost of the procedure itself, it is well established that dental work, for example, done in Northern Ireland can be claimed on Med1/Med2.

Hi Tommy,

No-one was querying the travel and accommodation expenses, though. The tax lady was somehow interpreting that sentence to mean that you could claim for all three (procedure, travel and accommodation) if the op was only available outside Ireland and none of the the three if it was available here. I'm in the middle of a letter to her now clarifying it - I don't want anyone else to get caught by this bad advice!

It doesnt give me a whole lot of pleasure to say that I think the lady in the tax office was correct in relation to the travel and accommodation costs.

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As pointed out, that's not the issue. Do you think she was correct about the cost of the procedure?