Noel Ahern
Question:221 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance the situation in relation to claiming tax relief for medical charges under form MED1; and the dental charges which can be claimed. [13373/02]
Written Answers. - Tax Reliefs.
Noel Ahern
Question:222 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance if costs for medically recommended support clothing to women following breast removal operations can be claimed as medical expenses under the form MED1; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13374/02]
Noel Ahern
Question:223 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance if he will allow the cost or rent of medical appliances (details supplied) to be claimed on the MED1 form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13376/02]
Noel Ahern
Question:225 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance the situation in relation to taxes paid by general practitioners; if payments made to general practitioners can in all cases be claimed against tax on the MED1 form; if tax returns of general practitioners are based on self-return; and if some system of norms or averaging is used for calculation of tax. [13380/02]
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 221 to 223, inclusive, and 225 together.
The position is that, in accordance with section 469 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, an individual can claim tax relief for un-reimbursed expenses incurred in the provision of health care. The first €125 of expenses incurred in respect of a claim in respect of an individual and the first €250 of expenses incurred in respect of a claim relating to two or more individuals are excluded from the scope of the relief. The relief is available at the claimant's marginal rate of tax. An individual may apply for the relief by submitting a completed Med 1 form to the inspector of taxes after 31 December in the year in which the expenditure occurred.
Claims may be made by an individual in respect of his/her own expenses, expenses met for a spouse, dependant and certain other relatives or a child who is not a relative, but is in the custody of and is maintained by the individual, or an individual whether they are a relative or not who is aged 65 or over or who is permanently incapacitated.
Expenditure on the following qualifies for relief:
services of a doctor/consultant; drugs or medicines prescribed by a doctor on prescription; maintenance or treatment in a hospital or an approved nursing home; routine maternity care; educational psychological assessment for a qualifying child; speech and language therapy carried out by a speech and language therapist for a qualifying child; transport by ambulance; orthoptic or similar treatment prescribed by a doctor; physiotherapy or similar treatment prescribed by a practitioner; diagnostic procedures prescribed by a practitioner; expenses incurred on any medical, surgical or nursing appliance on the advice of a practitioner; and in the case of kidney patients, expenses up to a maximum amount for individuals on the use of hospital dialysis, home dialysis or CAPD.
With regard to dental expenses, relief is not avail able on expenditure incurred on routine dental expenses such as the scaling, extraction and filling of teeth or the provision of artificial teeth or dentures. Where an individual wishes to submit a claim in respect of dental treatment a form Med 2 should be completed by a dentist and submitted together with the Med 1. However, the following non-routine dental expenses are allowable:
crowns; veneers/rembrant type etched fillings; tip replacing; gold posts; gold inlays; endodontics (root canal treatment); periodontal treatment; orthodontic treatment; surgical extraction of impacted wisdom teeth in hospital and by a dentist in a dentist's surgery and bridgework.
The cost of rent or purchase of a medical appliance used on the advice of a medical practitioner is an allowable expense. Support clothing used on the advice of a medical practitioner would, in general, be considered an appliance for the purposes of section 469. A qualifying appliance must be used to prevent, alleviate or treat the ‘ailment, injury, defect or disability' from which the individual is suffering.
On the question of whether payments made to general practitioners in all cases may be claimed against tax on the MED1 form, the position is that to the extent that payments made to general practitioners fall within the scope of section 469, then they may be claimed against tax using the MED1 form. In effect, while payments to general practitioners for most of the usual diagnostic or treatment services which they provide can, generally speaking, be claimed against income tax, it is not possible to say that payments to general practitioners in all cases can be so claimed.
A general practitioner is taxable on the profits or gains from his or her profession. No system of norms or averaging is used in calculating income or tax. A general practitioner is obliged to make an annual return of income. These returns are subject to the self-assessment regime and are subject to revenue audit in selected cases.
The services provided by a general practitioner come within the definition of ‘professional services' for the purpose of professional services withholding tax. Therefore, payments made to a general practitioner by an accountable person will be made net of professional services withholding tax at the standard rate (currently 20%). Accountable persons are public bodies including the GMS, and health insurers, including VHI and BUPA.