Tax relief under section 469 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 – relief for health expenses – is available to parents for expenditure incurred in respect of qualifying dependants, that is, children, for the services of an educational psychologist. For the purposes of the relief, "educational psychologist" means a person who is entered on a register maintained by the Minister for Education and Science in accordance with guidelines set down by that Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance.
A taxpayer can claim the relief by completing form MED 1 at the end of the year and sending it to his or her tax office. The relief is given at the highest rate of tax at which the taxpayer is chargeable for the year of the claim. The first €125 of health expenses incurred in any year must be borne by the taxpayer. If the taxpayer is claiming relief for two or more persons, he or she must bear the first €250. The question of whether the cost of further professional fees arising from the recommendations of an assessment by an educational psychologist can be claimed as a health expense depends on the nature of those professional services, and specifically whether they come within the definition of health expenses in section 469. For example, speech and language therapy would qualify, as would the services of a medical practitioner or diagnostic procedures carried out on the advice of a practitioner.