{"id":835218,"date":"2025-08-18T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=835218"},"modified":"2025-08-18T07:15:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T05:15:44","slug":"important-information-about-medical-tax-claims-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/835218\/important-information-about-medical-tax-claims-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Important information about medical tax claims in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While most South Africans are aware of medical aid tax credits and getting refunds from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for this, out-of-pocket payments also qualify for tax claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, claiming from the taxman for these payments is not a clear-cut process, says Tax Consulting South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group noted that Section 6B of the Income Tax Act permits an additional medical tax credit on top of medical aid tax credits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This allows for an additional medical tax credit claim (AMTC) on the condition that the out-of-pocket expenses align with the definition of qualifying medical expenses, as set out in the Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax Consulting said successful medical tax credit claims have amounted to additional medical tax credit claims between R2,000 and R100,000 per tax year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council of Medical Schemes\u2019 latest Industry Report confirms that at least R40 billion in out-of-pocket payments have been incurred by medical aid members during the 2023\/2024 tax period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These tax credits can stemming from out-of-pocket expenses such as laboratory test results, or to expenses for a dependent suffering from a disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the tax experts warned that this comes with a lot of hoops to jump through, and that SARS will not simply hand over money without fully testing the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This requires taxpayers to fully substantiate their claims and to keep proper records of all these out-of-pocket payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A significant practical challenge in claiming the additional medical tax credit lies in the requirement for adequate substantiation,” Tax Consulting said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Taxpayers cannot merely include medical expenses in their tax return and assume that the corresponding credit will be granted, without adequate substantiation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What taxpayers need to know<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tax Consulting warned that the burden of proof with AMTC claims lies with taxpayers and SARS requires supporting documentation for all amounts claimed as qualifying medical expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes tax invoices, detailed schedules and medical scheme tax certificates issued by medical aid administrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the taxpayer has incurred medical expenses directly related to a disability, SARS further requires the taxpayer to submit a completed ITR-DD form, which is a formal confirmation from a registered medical practitioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experts noted that taxpayers often overlook the obligation to retain supporting documentation for a minimum of five years, in accordance with the Tax Administration Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Without these documents, even valid claims may be disallowed, underscoring the importance of diligent and proactive record-keeping,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next thing that taxpayers need to be aware of is that there are limitations on the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, the tax credit’s availability depends on the amount spent out-of-pocket, as well as personal circumstances, such as the income level, the age or disability status of the taxpayer or dependents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In ordinary cases, relief only applies if your medical expenses and excess contributions exceed 7.5% of your taxable income<\/strong>,” Tax Consulting said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to this, only 25% of the excess is claimable.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group warned that this means that higher-income earners would have to incur higher out-of-pocket expenses for the tax credit to become applicable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Simply put, there is an inverse relationship between the expenses a taxpayer incurs and their taxable income after deductions,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group added that the calculation of the AMTC is more lenient in cases where either the taxpayer or their child and\/or spouse is disabled, or the taxpayer is 65 years and older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In such cases, 33.3% of the sum of all qualifying medical expenses and the excess medical aid contributions is claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Understanding which category you fall under is essential before claiming,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What medical expenses qualify<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tax Consulting noted that the term \u201cqualifying medical expenses\u201d is broad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It includes amounts that were paid during a tax year to registered medical practitioners, such as doctors, dentists, optometrists, osteopaths, herbalists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, or orthopaedists for professional services rendered, or medicines supplied to the taxpayer or their dependants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also includes payments to hospitals or nursing homes, registered or enrolled nurses, midwives, or nursing assistants for illness or confinement, as well as payments to pharmacists for prescribed medicines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It further includes other medical expenses prescribed by SARS, incurred by the taxpayer due to a disability or mental impairment affecting either the taxpayer or their dependent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the above, for medical expenses to meet the definition of \u201cqualifying medical expenses\u201d, they would also need to be \u201cout-of-pocket\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the medical expenses would have to be unrecoverable by the taxpayer<\/strong> or their spouse from any person, including medical aid funds. The taxpayer must have solely borne the costs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Tax Season 2025 in full swing and more than a month in, taxpayers still have time to submit their claim for AMTC. Tax filing for non-provisional taxpayers closes on 20 October 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africans can claim more than medical aid tax credits from SARS, but it’s not a simple process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":835219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[3246,15027],"class_list":["post-835218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-sars","tag-tax-consulting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835218"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":835239,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835218\/revisions\/835239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}