Private ruling: Medical Expenses Tax Offset
Published: March 2015
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2015
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2014

Ruling: Q1: Do your education costs qualify as an eligible medical expense for the purposes of the medical expenses tax offset? | A1: No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You have a child who suffers from a medical condition. Your child has been accepted at a school which specialises in dealing with children who have the medical condition. The school's comprehensive approach for education will include an educational or skill development focus, together with therapeutic interventions to support appropriate behaviour. Programs emphasize communication, social skills, positive behaviour support, support for sensory sensitivities, learning needs and strengths of each student.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 Section 159P

Reasons for decision: Summary: A medical expenses tax offset is available to a taxpayer under subsection 159P(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936) where the taxpayer pays medical expenses in an income year for themselves or a dependant who is an Australian resident, to the extent that they are not reimbursed, or are eligible to be reimbursed, from a government or public authority or a society, association or fund. The only paragraph which may have application to your circumstances is paragraph (d) of the definition of medical expenses in subsection 159P(4) of the ITAA 1936 which includes payments made for therapeutic treatment administered by direction of a legally qualified medical practitioner. Therapeutic treatment as a concept is concerned with healing or curing, rather than preventing the need for therapy (C ase T67 (1968) 18 TRBD 346; (1967) 14 CTBR (NS) Case 31 . Therapeutic treatment involves the exercise of professional skill in the medical field in a way which normally involves the person administering the treatment using drugs or physical or mental processes of one kind or another for the purpose of curing or managing the disease or ailment ( Case R95 84 ATC 633; 27 CTBR (NS) Case 148 ). In your case, while we acknowledge the potential benefits of your child attending a school that specialises in children with their medical condition, the education costs do not involve any healing or curing, nor is it treatment administered by a person exercising skill in the medical field. The special school is for educational purposes and is not considered to be therapeutic treatment. Therefore, the expenses you incurred for your child's school education do not qualify as a medical expense for the purposes of the medical expenses tax offset under section 159P of the ITAA 1936.