A lot of Irish people are missing out on this form of tax refund

Did you know you were entitled to this?

A recent survey has revealed that 6 in 10 Irish people are missing out on medical expense refunds, in particular visits to the doctor, prescriptions and dental work. The folks at Taxback.com conducted the survey which found that 56percent of respondents did not claim a tax refund for medical expenses incurred in the last 4 years. The tax relief on medical expenses was introduced in 1967 and while it was reduced from a person’s marginal rate of tax to 20% in 2009 experts at Taxback.com say that it’s still a very lucrative tax relief and that it “beggar’s belief” that more people still don’t claim. The Taxback.com survey asked 800 PAYE taxpayers through the country the following questions: Have you claimed for medical expenses in last 4 years?

• Yes 44%
• No 56%

If you have claimed for medical expenses – what have you claimed for?

• GP/ Consultant 76%
• Prescriptions 49%
• Dental 44%
• Physio 20%
• Laser eye 3%
• IVF 3%
• Gluten free prods 1%
• Other 6%

Did you have medical expenses that you did not claim for?

• GP/Consultant 58%
• Prescriptions 57%
• Dental 39%
• Physio 17%
• Gluten free prods 9%
• Laser eye 4%
• IVF 2%
• Other 6%

Barry Flanagan, Senior Tax Manager at Taxback.com advises that you keep your receipts and documents in a safe place or if needs be you can always ask for 'year-end' receipts from your local pharmacy to keep track of your spending. Barry added:

"Most people incur medical expenses throughout the year – particularly parents with young children. Trips to the doctor’s surgery become commonplace for a lot of families over the years and every trip can cost someone anywhere from €40 to €70. So if a couple with 3 children takes even just 5 trips to their GP in a year that bill hits approx. €250 – you could get €50 of this back from the Revenue. It makes so much sense to claim… Last year refunds on medical expenses cost the Revenue €145.9 million but we would guess that if everyone claimed their entitlements this figure could be doubled. So our message is simply – get your receipts together and get what’s owed!”