What is the additional medical tax credit for disability expenses?

If you are a taxpayer, and you, your spouse or child, have a permanent or temporary disability, you are entitled to submit expenses related to the disability for consideration as an additional medical tax credit.

If you are supporting any other dependent – a parent or sibling, for example – with a disability, you can only submit their qualifying medical expenses where these exceed the relevant thresholds (for under 65s or over 65s). You cannot, however, submit any other disability related expenses for consideration as is the case with taxpayers who themselves have a disability or their spouse or child have a disability.

A disability is defined as a moderate to severe limitation of your ability to function or perform daily activities as a result of a physical, sensory, communication, intellectual or mental impairment.

In order to claim expenses related to a disability, it must be expected to last for at least a year and must be confirmed by a medical practitioner. The practitioner must complete a Confirmation of Disability (ITR-DD) form that you will find on the website of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) here.

If the disability is temporary – that is, you will recover from it – you must have this form completed annually.

If the disability is permanent, the form can be completed once every 10 years.

There is a list of the types of expenses you can claim on SARS’s website here.

The list includes:

• Aids and devices such as hearing aids or a computer;
  
  
• Orthopaedic or surgical equipment;
  
  
• Wheelchairs and crutches;
  
  
• Travel related expenses;
  
  
• Remedial school fees;
  
  
• Incontinence products;
  
  
• The cost of hiring a caregiver;
  
  
• The costs of modifying your car or home; and
  
  
• Service animals.

Remember the expense must be necessary for and linked to your disability. You can claim for a GPS if you are blind but not if you have lost an arm.

How do you calculate the tax credit for a disability?

As long as the disability you, your spouse or child has is confirmed by a medical practitioner, and you have proof of these expenses, you can submit them for the medical tax credit.

You may also be entitled to claim more of your medical scheme contributions as an additional medical tax credit.

Your additional tax credit will include one third (33.3%) of your unrecouped medical expenses and disability expenses.

You are also entitled to relief for one third of your scheme contributions that exceed three times the normal medical fees tax credit.

Record your contributions and expenses on your tax return and the South African Revenue Service will calculate what is due to you.

If you want to work out what the additional tax credit will be for yourself, find out how to here.