Med 1 Form and receipts

Hi,
I have a monthly prescription for the last 6 years, I have never claimed tax back using the MED 1 and i am now aware that i can do so back as far as 2003. I have a few queries:

Unfortunately in moving house 2 years ago i lost a lot of paperwork in the transit .

I do not have receipts for my prescriptions for 3 of the years- if asked would bank records/proof from doctor suffice?

Also in relation to my earnings for the particular years is there any documentation (besides p60 that I can get from the revenue)?

Because I lost a lot of receipts etc I am unsure as to how much my medication cost in the earlier years- it was always the exact same prescription. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I could find out how much a particular medication cost historically?

Thanks in advance for any advice,
Mark

You don't need to include receipts with a MED1/2 claim but you do need to have them or some other proof of expenditure in case Revenue ever check the claim or audit you. However if, in the absence of receipts or other details about the purchases, you don't know how much was spent then I can't see how you can make an accurate claim in the first place.

Thats a fair point clubman,
the only thing i can think of is looking at my bank statements.
The prescription was the same every month and more or less from the same pharmacy so I should be able to spot it. I may go to the chemist to see if they have records,
Thanks for the reply

Asking your GP/pharmacist if they can give you duplicate receipts is probably the best bet - especially if you have used the same ones over the years.

Get your duplicate receipts from Doctor and Pharmacy and send to Revenue immediately with Med 1 for each of the years 2003 onwards. After 31/12/2007 you will not be able to claim for 2003. If you have p60 for any of those years enclose a copy. Do not send receipts, keep them as they may be required as proof at a later stage.

Revenue will have details of your earnings as per your p60 and will refund any overpayment of Tax. A P21 will be sent to showing details of Income from employment, the amount of Tax paid and the amount of refund due.

In 2007 all Medical Expenses will be eligable for tax relief ( no €125/€250 deduction)

Hi Nellie,
Thanks for the info,
i think however the excess payment is being rationalised to one -€125 whether single/family. I went in revenue today and they were quite helpful-hope they dont come back and tell me i've underpaid tax for the past few years!


· measures to help taxpayers claim the tax reliefs to which they are entitled including measures designed to enable Revenue to make automatic repayments in respect of reliefs such as health expenses, trade union subscriptions and to allow age related tax credits to be credited automatically to the taxpayer. Also the two thresholds for claiming relief on health expenses, currently €125 for one person and €250 for a family, are being rationalised into a single threshold of €125. To further speed up the tax repayment process the Minister said that he is abolishing the requirement that the taxpayer who pays the medical expenses has to be related to the person in respect of whom the expenses were incurred.

No - the "excess" is abolished from this year. It was in the 2007 (?) Finance Act if I recall correctly.

Med 1- Health expense claims removal of €125 excess (effective 2007) - Section 9 Finance Act 2007 (replaces S459 1987 Act)

(ii) by substituting the following for subsection (2):

"(2) Subject to this section, where an individual for
a year of assessment proves that in the year of assessment
he or she defrayed health expenses incurred for
the provision of health care, the individual shall be
entitled, for the purpose of ascertaining the amount
of the income on which he or she is to be charged to
income tax, to have a deduction made from his or
her total income of the amount proved to have been
so defrayed.",

Just curious - why have you (?) highlighted "total income"? Is that the bit that changed?