Section 469 Relief for health expenses
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Health Expenses - Guidelines and Procedures on claims: Tax Briefing Issue 68 - 2008
(1) In this section-
["appropriate percentage", in relation to a year of assessment, means a percentage equal to the standard rate of tax for that year;]1
...2
["educational psychologist" means a person who is entered on a register maintained by the Minister for Education and Science for the purposes of this section in accordance with guidelines set down by that Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance;]3
["health care" means prevention, diagnosis, alleviation or treatment of an ailment, injury, infirmity, defect or disability, and includes care received by a woman in respect of a pregnancy, but does not include—
(a) routine ophthalmic treatment,
(b) routine dental treatment, or
(c) cosmetic surgery or similar procedures, unless the surgery or procedure is necessary to ameliorate a physical deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury or a disfiguring disease;]4
"health expenses" means expenses in respect of the provision of health care, being expenses representing the cost of-
(a) the services of a practitioner,
(b) diagnostic procedures carried out on the advice of a practitioner,
[(c) maintenance or treatment necessarily incurred in connection with the services or procedures referred to in paragraph (a) or (b),]5
(d) drugs or medicines supplied on the prescription of a practitioner,
(e) the supply, maintenance or repair of any medical, surgical, dental or nursing appliance used on the advice of a practitioner,
(f) physiotherapy or similar treatment prescribed by a practitioner,
(g) orthoptic or similar treatment prescribed by a practitioner, …6
(h) transport by [ambulance, or]7
[(i) as respects a [person]8 who for the year of assessment-
(a) is under the age of 18 years, or
(b) if over the age of 18 years, at the commencement of the year of assessment, is receiving full-time instruction at any university, college, school or other educational establishment,
either or both-
(i) educational psychological assessment carried out by an educational psychologist, and
(ii) speech and language therapy carried out by a speech and language therapist;]9
...10
"practitioner" means any person who is-
(a) registered in the register established under [section 43 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007]11,
(b) registered in the register established under section 26 of the Dentists Act, 1985, or
(c) in relation to health care provided outside the State, entitled under the laws of the country in which the care is provided to [practice]12 medicine or dentistry there;
...2
...2
"routine dental treatment" means the extraction, scaling and filling of teeth and the provision and repairing of artificial teeth or dentures;
...13
"routine ophthalmic treatment" means sight testing and advice as to the use of spectacles or contact lenses and the provision and repairing of spectacles or [contact lenses;]14
["specified amount", in relation to a year of assessment, means the amount of expenditure which qualifies for income tax relief in accordance with this section;]15
["speech and language therapist" means a person approved of for the purposes of this section by the Minister for Health and Children in accordance with guidelines set down by that Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance.]16
Amendments
1 Definition of "appropriate percentage" inserted by Finance (No. 2) Act 2008 section 8(a)(i) for 2009 and later tax years.
2 Definitions of "dependant", "qualified person" and "relative" deleted by Finance Act 2007 section 9(1)(b)(i)(II) for 2007 and later tax years.
3 Definition of "educational psychologist" inserted by Finance Act 2001 section 8(b) for 2001 and later tax years.
4 Definition of "health care" substituted by Finance Act 2010 section 6(1)(a) for 2010 and later tax years.
5 Para (c) of definition of "health expenses" substituted by Finance Act 2010 section 6(1)(b) for 2010 and later tax years.
6 Deleted by Finance Act 2002 section 9(a)(ii)(I) for 2002 and later tax years.
7 Substituted by Finance Act 2002 section 9(a)(ii)(II) for 2002 and later tax years.
8 Substituted by Finance Act 2007 section 9(1)(b)(i)(I) for 2007 and later tax years.
9 Para (i) of definition of "health expenses" substituted by Finance Act 2003 section 163 and Schedule 6 para 1(d) as on and from 28 March 2003.
10 Definition of "hospital" deleted by Finance Act 2010 section 6(1)(c) for 2010 and later tax years.
11 Substituted by Finance Act 2010 section 6(1)(d) for 2010 and later tax years.
12 Substituted by Finance Act 2005 section 147 and Schedule 6 para 1(h)(ii).
13 Definition of "routine maternity care" deleted by Finance Act 2001 section 8(e) for 2001 and later tax years.
14 Substituted by Finance Act 2002 section 9(a)(iii) for 2002 and later tax years.
15 Definition of "specified amount" inserted by Finance (No. 2) Act 2008 section 8(a)(ii) for 2009 and later tax years.
16 Definition of "speech and language therapist" inserted by Finance Act 2001 section 8(f) for 2001 and later tax years.
(2)(a) Subject to this section, where an individual for a year of assessment proves that in the year of assessment he or she defrayed health expenses incurred for the provision of health care, the income tax to be charged on the individual, other than in accordance with section 16(2), for that year of assessment shall be reduced by the lesser of—
(i) the amount equal to the appropriate percentage of the specified amount, and
(ii) the amount which reduces that income tax to nil,
but, where an individual proves that he or she defrayed health expenses incurred for the provision of health care in the nature of maintenance or treatment in a nursing home, other than a nursing home which does not provide access to 24 hour nursing care on-site, the individual shall be entitled for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of the income on which he or she is to be charged to income tax, to have a deduction made from his or her total income of the amount proved to have been so defrayed.
(b) For the purposes of this section any contribution made by an individual in defraying expenses incurred in respect of nursing home fees where such an individual is entitled to or has received State support (within the meaning of section 3(1) of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009) shall be treated as health expenses qualifying for relief under this section.
(c) Financial support (within the meaning of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009) shall not be treated as health expenses for the purposes of this section.
Amendments
Subs (2) substituted by Finance Act 2010 section 6(1)(e) for 2010 and later tax years.
What kind of health care expenses can I deduct from my income tax liability?
Health care essentially means the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of illness, injury, infirmity or disability. It includes cosmetic surgery necessary to ameliorate a physical deformity arising from a congenital abnormality, a personal injury or a ...
(3) For the purposes of this section-
(a)(i) any expenses defrayed by a married man in a year of assessment shall be deemed to have been defrayed by his wife if for the year of assessment she is to be treated under the Income Tax Acts as living with him and she is assessed to tax in accordance with section 1017, or
(ii) any expenses defrayed by a married woman in a year of assessment shall be deemed to have been defrayed by her husband if for the year of assessment she is to be treated under the Income Tax Acts as living with him and he is assessed to tax in accordance with section 1017,
(b) any expenses defrayed out of the estate of a deceased person by his or her executor or administrator shall be deemed to have been defrayed by the deceased person immediately before his or her death, and
(c) expenses shall be regarded as not having been defrayed in so far as any sum in respect of, or by reference to, the health care to which they relate has been, or is to be, received, directly or indirectly, by the individual or the individual's estate, or by any dependant of the individual or such dependant's estate, from any public or local authority or under any contract of insurance or by means of compensation or otherwise.
(4) ...
Amendments
Subs (4) deleted by Finance Act 2002 section 9(b) for 2002 and later tax years.
(5) In making a claim for a deduction under this section, an individual who, after the end of the year of assessment for which the claim is made, has defrayed or is deemed to have defrayed any expenses relating to health care provided in that year may elect that all deductions to be allowed to him or her under this section for that year and for subsequent years of assessment shall be determined as if those expenses had been defrayed at the time when the health care to which they relate was provided.
(6) Notwithstanding sections 458(2) and 459(2)-
(a) any claim for a deduction under this section-
(i) shall be made in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may from time to time prescribe, and
(ii) shall be accompanied by such statements in writing as regards any class of expenses by reference to which the deduction is claimed, including statements by persons to whom payments were made, as may be indicated by the prescribed form as being required as regard expenses of that class, and
(b) in all cases relief from tax consequent on the allowance of a deduction under this section shall be given by means of repayment.
(7) Where relief is given under this section to any individual in respect of an amount used to defray health expenses, relief shall not be given under any other provision of the Income Tax Acts to that individual in respect of that amount.
Amendments
Subs (7) inserted by Finance Act 2007 section 9(1)(b)(iii) for 2007 and later tax years.
(8)(a) Where the Minister for Finance determines that expenses, or a class of expenses, representing the cost of anything referred to in paragraphs (a) to (i) in the definition of "health expenses" in subsection (1) has been or may be incurred in the provision of health care which in the opinion of the Minister for Finance is inappropriate having regard to public policy, then the Minister may by order prescribe those expenses, or class of expenses, as not being eligible for relief under this section.
(b) The Minister for Finance shall not make an order under paragraph (a) unless he or she has consulted with the Minister for Health and Children and such appropriately qualified persons, bodies or institutions (if any), which in the opinion of the Minister for Finance or the Minister for Health and Children should be consulted.
(c) Every order made by the Minister for Finance under paragraph (a) shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.
Amendments
Subs (8) inserted by Finance Act 2010 section 6(1)(f) for 2010 and later tax years.
Can the Minister prevent treatments contrary to public policy from qualifying as health expenses?
(8) The Minister for Finance may prescribe that treatments "contrary to public policy" do not qualify for tax relief. It is understood that this term refers to abortion treatment....
