Private ruling: Medical expenses offset
Date of advice: 7 September 2018
Published: October 2018
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2018
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2017

Ruling: Q1: Are you entitled to the medical expenses rebate for the year ended 30 June 2018? | A1: No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You have not worked during the 2018 income year. You have been receiving treatment for an illness. You have paid for the costs associated with your treatment.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income tax Assessment Act 1936 section 159P

Reasons for decision: Summary: A medical expenses tax offset may be available under section 159P of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936), where you have paid medical expenses in an income year for yourself and/or a dependant who is an Australian resident. The medical expenses tax offset is only available if the amount of medical expenses (reduced by any entitlement to reimbursement from a health fund or government authority such as Medicare) exceeds the threshold amount. For the 2013-14 to 2018-19 years of income, an amount that would otherwise be paid as medical expenses is treated as not being paid as medical expenses unless the payment: (a) relates to an aid for a person with a disability; or (b) relates to services rendered by a person as an attendant of a person with a disability; or (c) relates to care provided by an approved provider (within the meaning of the Aged Care Act 1997) of a person who: (i) is approved as a care recipient under that Act; or (ii) is a continuing care recipient within the meaning of that Act. Disability aids are items of property manufactured as, or generally recognised to be, an aid to the functional capacity of a person with a disability but, generally, will not include ordinary household or commercial appliances. Attendant care expenses relate to services and care provided to a person with certain disabilities to assist with everyday living, such as the provision of personal assistance, home nursing, home maintenance, and domestic services to a person who is blind or permanently confined to bed or a wheelchair. Aged care expenses relate to services and accommodation provided by an approved aged care provider to a person who is a care recipient or continuing care recipient within the meaning of the Aged Care Act 1997 . In your case the treatment you have received for your illness does not meet the requirements under section 159P of the ITAA 1936. While your illness has clearly limited your ability to work, the treatment you received does not fall within the legislation as being for disability aids, attendant care or for an approved aged care facility. While the commissioner empathises with your situation he does not have any discretion under the legislation to allow your medical expenses to form part of the medical expenses tax offset.