IR 2024: Learn how to declare medical and health insurance expenses and reimbursement

Medical expenses, including health plan expenses, can be declared on your Personal Income Tax Form (IRPF), as they are among the main items that can generate an increase in your refund or reductions on any tax due. This is because there are no limits to the amount that will be included in this category, unlike others.

Medical expenses not only for taxpayers, but also for dependents and their dependents, i.e. those who receive alimony by court decision, can be considered in the same return. The deadline for submission began on March 15 and continues until May 31.

+ Income Tax: See which medical expenses may or may not be deducted

+ Understand the IR 2024 rules and the order of priority when receiving your refund

What can be deducted?

The types of expenses that can be included are for doctors in any specialty; Hospital expenses, such as hospitalization, surgeries, and deliveries; Laboratory testing expenses. Prosthetics and orthotics; radiological services; Dental prosthetics; and monthly health or dental plan fees.

The ad may also feature certain cosmetic procedures performed by doctors, such as dermatologists (rather than dentists or estheticians) and in medical settings.

What cannot be deducted?

Medications (even those for continuous use) are not deductible expenses; Vaccines; Nurses or attendants. Glasses or contact lenses. Wheelchairs or crutches. hearing aids; Consultations with acupuncturists. DNA tests to prove paternity; Expenses of companions for hospital stays; Expenses for people who do not depend on or support them; Travel and accommodation expenses for medical treatment.

Some exceptions occur when these expenses, such as medications or vaccines, are part of the hospital bill.

How do I declare payment to the health plan?

Health operators must send beneficiaries a document that includes a statement of payments, that is, the total amount spent on the plan in the previous year. The field where medical expenses are entered on the declaration is called “Payments Made,” and in the case of a health plan, the code is “26 – Health Plans in Brazil.”

However, in order for these expenses to be calculated, the declaration must be made in the full form, not in the simplified form. For example, only health, education and dependent expenditures are included in the full version of the IRPF.

How do I declare health plan participation expenses?

A declarant cannot take health plan expenses into account in income tax unless he or she pays them. If a plan is paid entirely by the company, with no payroll deductions or copayments, expenses cannot be included on the return.

But if there is any copayment item charged by the company, such as in the case of a consultation, a non-covered procedure, or even expenses with dependents, the amount that came out of the taxpayer's pocket may appear as a health expense on the employee's return. In this case, the salary stub is sufficient evidence.

The same applies in the case of a health plan of a legal entity that has been paid in full by the declarant, for example, in the case of a person acting as a small individual entrepreneur (MEI). In this case, the taxpayer must prove that it was he who covered the expenses and only then are they included in the IRPF.

How do I declare reimbursement for consultations or procedures?

In some health plans, whether corporate or individual, there is the possibility that the beneficiary will receive compensation for consulting a specialist or for a procedure that is not covered by the insurance company (this type of information is crucial when it comes to health plan quotes before signing the contract).

In the IRPF declaration, the refund is not subject to deduction, as the amount is already considered to have been returned to the taxpayer. In this case, the declarant must report the refund amount in the “Non-deductible premium/refund” field.

If the cost of the consultation is R$500 and the amount reimbursed by the plan is R$180, you must declare R$500 in the “Amount Paid” field and R$180 in the “Non-deductible premium/refundable” field. Therefore, the system will calculate that the amount to be considered for refund purposes is only R$ 320.