AC and Tax

[slyder]

Hi Everyone,

I am under orders from DW to find out how you all go with claiming out of pocket AC expenses at tax time. Apparently a lot can be claimed (the portion that isn't covered by Medicare) but we know nothing about this side of things and were wondering what your experiences have been.

[Mel1977]

Hi Slyder,

Dont quote me but I was under the impression that you can't claim out of pocket medical expenses on tax since the introduction of the Medicare Safety Net.

As I said I could be wrong, and if I am I would be bummed cause I had high ob fees last year that I could have claimed on top of safety net!

Mel

[slyder]

Mel, as I wrote it I thought it seemed like double dipping with the safety net. DW was under the impression you could claim drugs and stuff like that. And I'm sure there is something on the tax returns about being able to claim for stuff if you are over $1500 out of pocket. But like you, I'm not sure.

[briggsy's girl]

slyder - once you hit $1500 in out of pocket medical expenses (anything that is claimable from medicare but not paid by them, as well as dental, and pharmaceutical explenses) you can claim 20% of your out of pocket expenses as a rebate on your tax.

as an example, DH and i both had major dental work (surgery,plus a plate for DH, surgery and root canal for me), on top of lap and AC for me in the last financial year - our medical out of pocket expenses totalled about $3500 for the year - we were able to claim 20% of the out of pockets that were over the $1500 threshold (so around $2000) as a rebate on tax! all you need to do is keep track of it all (you can register for medicare online and then get your tax statement printed at tax time next year, my PHI allows a similar thing) - and claim it through your tax. i couldn't work out where to include it when looking at e-tax online, and haven't looked at a tax pack - but our accountant was fabulous at making sure it was included...

hope that helps

[Antheia]

Maybe just ring the ATO and ask them what you can and can't claim?

[Mel1977]

Oh wow, thanks for posting this Slyder!

BG - I had no idea, we had pretty high out of pocket expenses last year even after our 80% from safety net and I didnt claim

Will keep that in mind for next year!

[slyder]

Thanks girls, you all rock. Mel, I reckon it mightn't hurt to see a tax agent as a once off. I know when we did they sorted out a couple of issues and made us realise the value of PHI (or pay little Johnny a 1% surcharge on our income)

[briggsy's girl]

an accountant is a great thing - yeah it costs you the first time, but each year after that, you can claim the previous years accounting fees as a deduction anyway! plus they know how to get the best benefits (well, they do if you've got a good accountant!!)

[sushee]

As someone who's done it, yes you can still claim a tax offset for any out of pocket medical expenses over $1500 even if you've qualified for, and are receiving rebates from, the safety net. I kept everything, all my receipts for anything medical related for the entire year and got my 20% back on that. Even if you haven't got receipts, call your clinic and get them re-sent to you. They get those sorts of requests all the time.

[melbel]

make sure you keep all your prescription receipts too....they count as well. we had about $8000 out of pocket this year so got a nice rebate from it all.

Mel I believe you can claim last years on next yearstax I think you have up to 3 years or something to claim. So you should have a nice rebate to look forward to next year.

And yeah what we do is get the medicare tax statement (just ask at the counter and they print it on the spot for you) and PHI tax statement and work out all the gaps plus all our scripts etc...it all adds up.

[anney]

the ATO website has some simple clear information on what you can and can't claim. go to their website and do a search on medical expenses and you should find it.
mel 1977, may be you could ring them and see if you can claim this year??

[slyder]

This is all really useful stuff. Thanks guys.

[Shannon22]

Just thought i would add, i did my tax online this year and was able to claim it all online without seeing an accountant. But yep definately anything out of pocket over $1500, you get 20% back and like Mel said it all adds up

[Lissie]

Yes you most definetly claim on out of pocket expenses. We have done so with our tax over the past three years, just talk to your accountant, you can claim 20% of all out of pocket expenses.
Good luck with the bucks!

[Mon]

Great thread Slyder! Will keep this in the back of my mind! So need to organise myself!!!

We just claimed our first cycle (BFN ) Both Medicare and our healthfund were so helpful ... it was strange! Medicare lady was fab, fast, told us exactly what to do at the healthfund. Healthfund lady was just the same. She also told us that at the end of the fin year we should go to both Medicare and healthfund and ask for an out of pocket statement for tax (can also do this if you always go to same chemist for scripts) ... so don't have to keep track of it ourselves . I still am though. We also had one item of $650 that was not claimable under medicare or healthfund and she said to keep a copy of that receipt with out of pocket statements for accountant. So will be interesting to see if it helps at tax time ... we were only out of pocket $2450 on a $6000 cycle which i was surprised about too. we won't get as much back next cycle as safety net won't kick in as quickly as I had a lot of other expenses prior to IVF that got us to the threshold before ivf this year.