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JUST FOUR IN 10 Irish people claim back the tax they pay on medical expenses, according to a new survey.
The study, of 800 Irish PAYE employees taken by tax rebate specialists Taxback.com, indicates that just 44% of Irish taxpayers have applied for refunds on their expenses in the past four years.
At present, a tax rebate of 20% on medical expenses (that are not covered by either the State or health insurance) can be claimed by applying to the Revenue Commissioners. It’s not a new benefit either – it’s been around since 1967.
That amounts to €12 for a single €60 GP visit – figures that can start to add up quickly.
The priciest medical expenses that can affect ordinary people – such as nursing home care (which can be reclaimed at the highest rate of tax) or IVF fertility treatment are all covered by the rebate.
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So why do so few people here neglect to apply for what could amount to a very welcome cash injection?
A lack of awareness may be one reason, but Barry Flanagan, senior manager at Taxback.com says there may be another, easy-to-identify-with, reason:
“The reasons for this are varied but feedback from clients suggests that one reason is that they believe the process is too complex and time-consuming.”
I can understand why people might think this – anything to do with tax and form-filling tends to make people’s eyes glaze over, but in reality this is one of the most straightforward things you’ll ever do in terms of personal admin – easier than shopping online I would say.
Despite this, Flanagan says that it “beggars belief” that more people don’t reclaim what they’re entitled to.
Most people who do reclaim their expenses do so for common medical payments such as GP or consultant visits (76% of claimants), or the resultant prescribed medicines (49% of claimants).
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The opposite is also the case – 58% of respondents have not claimed for GP or consultant fees in the past four years; 49% failed to claim for prescriptions, and 44% failed to claim for non-routine dental expenses.
“If I had to take an educated guess based on dealing with clients, I would say that people who had laser eye surgery, those who had IVF, and those who had doctor-referred physiotherapy didn’t claim because they were simply unaware that there are reliefs available for these expenses,” says Flanagan.
Many people think it’s just doctors’ visits that are covered – that is not the case.
Applications for these kinds of expense refunds can either be done on the web via Revenue’s online account service (this service needs to be registered for), or via mail using either a Med1 (for medical claims) or Med2 (for dental expenses) form.
The time limit for such claims isn’t even particularly draconian – you have four tax years to apply for a rebate from the time the expense was incurred.
Last year, the Irish State refunded €145.5 million in medical expenses – a significant figure by any estimation. If all people applied for their entitlements however, Flanagan estimates that figure “could be doubled”.
“We advise all clients to start keeping their receipts in a shoebox or a drawer in the future and if they have not done this to request copies of receipts from their GP or chemist,” he says, adding that even if a fee is charged for the provision of a receipt “you’re still going to get more back than you spent”.
Get your receipts together; get what’s owed.
More information is available regarding these claims on Revenue’s website and here
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itl be a rag in whatever format it comes. remember when it used to be a good paper
All they have to do now is change the banner from green to red and they’re all set.
I too remember when it was a decent newspaper.
If it looks like the gutter press, waddles like the gutter press and quacks like the gutter press, then ….
Great photograph of seanie i see as usual no comment allowed on him , i was in the high court yesterday and i heard a solicitor who was representing a man from clonmel against the revenue say to the judge that her client had a partner in the form of a director of ANGLO IRISH BANK that he was unaware of ,why is the media shying away from these stories
Finally it admits its true nature: tabloid.
The indo is a rag. Ok they sell loads of papers but mcDonalds sell loads of happy meals. Still sh1te though.
Irish Times or the Examiner.
The info is for the hard of learning who need to be told what to think.
Who cares would not even use it as toilet paper if lost in the woods.
Yeah it’s crap ha ha!
The Indo is just a step above a tabloid. As for the Sunday Independent, it seems to be a paper that prides itself on lack of news and running stories that are blatantly made up.
I remember the campaign that the Sindo carried on against Hume/Adams. Quite apart from the vitriolic tripe being spouted by Dunphy, O’Hanlon and their ilk, it actually put people’s lives at real risk just to sell their tawdry rag of a publication.
Truly disgraceful.
How did the journalism manage to get so lazy in that paper. Some of it is fox news worthy.
More appropriate size for their recent standard of journalism.
Thank god, they were so awkward!!
They’ll never fit Bono’s head on the cover again.
Get rid of it altogether. It’s become a real Fiann Fail mouth piece in recent years. If its not careful it will end up like the original Fianna Fail rag, The Irish Press.
I guess Broadsheet.ie is the only broadsheet left in the country.
Think the times and examiner are still pretty good.
It’s been tabloid for years anyway
I don’t understand how any news papers are still in business … Smart phones and apps will unfortunately kill the paper trade …
Old people. People who aren’t very knowlegable when it comes to technology and people who just prefer to read a printed newspaper.
Damn. I’ll have less paper to wrap me chips in
Not half as good a paper as it used to be and its blatant disregard of “fadas” on Irish words is highly ignorant on both its papers and app
It wraps itself in Journalists if the people. Dunphy, Shane Ross, etc. They sell themselves as having a social conscience yet in Shane Ross case has multiple incomes. If he is working hard as a TD then how has he the time to write for this rag?
Not worthy of coming in toilet paper format…
Even the online version is full of useless gossip on celebs and half celebs
Wish they’d scrap the entire paper – what a rag
I actually the Indo is quite a good newspaper,
The info? If only.
The indo.
Breaking new:
Apple are going to scrap the broadsheet iPad Retina in favour of the broad-s-h-i-t iPad Mini.
Please don’t hold me accountable for this scoop. It was written under the impression that today is the last day on earth for all of us.
Should be easier to handle for their drooling readers.
With an aging population (and my grandparents the only people I know who still buy it regularly) they should keep the broadsheet and just make the font size bigger!!
Good! All those broadsheets should be made in compact format! Broadsheets are near impossible to relax with while reading
And then there was only The Times…
Also rumor is that a Page 3 special feature entitled ‘The MILFs o’ Fianna Fáil’ will be coming in the new year…
Another nail in the coffin in Irish journalism.
But then again, was it ever alive? Certainly not when it comes to Denis O’Brien’s ”empire” and RTÉ.
It’s been a tabloid for years now. Nice that they’ve accepted that fact now.
Fine Gael blue shirt indo rag to equal the defunct newspaper the Irish Press Dev. Rag and apologists for the golden circle brigade.hope it closes up soon.
Sure who needs papers these days with sites like the journal being so accessible??
The days of dead tree editions of all newspapers are numbered. I think the whole model is in jeopardy, the Irish Times and The Indo, regardless of your opinion of them need to change to survive. I think it’s only a matter of time before they’re online only.
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