Net medical expenses are the medical expenses you have paid less any refunds you got, or could get, from Medicare or a private health insurer.
You can claim a tax offset of 20% – 20 cents in the dollar – of your net medical expenses over $1,500. There is no upper limit on the amount you can claim.
Note
You can only claim medical expenses for those of your dependants who were Australian residents for tax purposes (see Residency - overview for an explanation of this).
The medical expenses must be for:
you
your spouse – married or de facto – regardless of their income
your children who were aged under 21 years, including adopted and stepchildren, regardless of their income
any other child aged under 21 years – not a student – whom you maintained and whose separate net income (SNI) was less than $1,786 for the first child and less than $1,410 for the second child and any subsequent children. For more information on SNI refer to Dependants and separate net income
a student aged under 25 years whom you maintained and whose SNI was less than $1,786
a child-housekeeper, but only if you can claim a tax offset for them. Refer to Child-housekeeper tax offset for more information, or
You and your dependants must be Australian residents for tax purposes but you can claim medical expenses paid while travelling overseas. You may also be able to include the medical expenses of certain dependants who are waiting to migrate to Australia – see Dependants and separate net income.
You can claim expenses relating to an illness or operation paid to legally qualified doctors, nurses or chemists and public or private hospitals. However, expenses for some cosmetic operations are excluded.
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