Personal Tax question

[Magandroid]

Hi

Not sure if this is the correct area to post this question and if not, please let me know.

I am not very familiar with doing my personal taxes and have had an accountant doing it for me the last few years.

Anyway, I also have private medical aid but have not really used it extensively, other than for day to day services like dentist and the odd doctor's visit over the years. This was until last year (2021) when I had a bit of an medical condition which involved various tests and specialists to see what the issue was.
This involved having to pay co-payments as the medical aid did not cover everything as the specialists charged above medical aid rates so I have to co-pay the difference (something which I did not really have to do before).
My question now pertains to claiming on these co-payments for my tax (not sure if this is the correct term).
Can I claim for these co-payments with SARS and do I need an invoice from the doctors/specialists for SARS or can i just use the banking payment notifications I sent the doctors after I paid the difference?
Before I would only have sent my Medical Aid tax certificate to the accountant. I have emailed the accountant about this but they are so busy currently that I don't expect an answer soon. In the meantime I would just like to get all the paperwork together.
Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Tomtomtom]

It's not a very generous credit.

Additional Medical Expenses Tax Credit | South African Revenue Service

During this year, SARS started contacting taxpayers who were selected for a verification audit due to medical expenses claimed on their 2021 income tax

www.sars.gov.za

All other persons who do not qualify in the two categories above, may claim the following AMTC:

• 25% of the amount by which the sum of the amounts listed below exceeds 7,5% of the person’s taxable income (excluding retirement fund lump sum benefits, retirement fund lump sum withdrawal benefits, and severance benefits) before taking into account this AMTC:
• (i) All fees paid by the person to a registered medical scheme (or similar qualifying foreign fund) as exceeds four times the amount of the MTC to which that person is entitled; and
  (ii) The qualifying medical expenses paid by the person (for example, certain out-of-pocket expenses).

If your income is 500 000, then due to the 7.5% threshold, if your out of pocket expenses were 37 500 or less, you won't get anything.

And you only get 25% of whatever exceeds that.

So if your expenses were 50k, you can claim 0.25 * (50 000 - 37 500) = 3 125 + some small amount due to part (i) possibly.

Then yes you will need all invoices etc. to be prepared to answer the inevitable verification.

 

[syntax]

If this was submitted to medical aid but rejected, it will appear on the certificate.
Otherwise you need the original invoices and add them up, SARS will ask for proof

 

[Tomtomtom]

This involved having to pay co-payments as the medical aid did not cover everything as the specialists charged above medical aid rates so I have to co-pay the difference (something which I did not really have to do before).

So everyone recommends gap cover for this situation but if you didn't, next time remember to ask for a discount.

You might get 50% of your balance written off just like that. Anything will be better than what you'll get back from SARS.