IR 2024: find out how to declare medical expenses, health insurance and reimbursement

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

The medical expenses not only of the taxpayer, but also of dependents and those they support, that is, of those who receive alimony by court decision, can be considered in the same declaration. The deadline for delivery started on March 15th and runs until May 31st.

+ Income Tax: see medical expenses that may or may not be deducted

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

What can be deducted?

The types of expenses that can be included are for doctors of any specialty; hospital expenses, such as hospitalizations, surgeries and births; expenses for laboratory tests; prosthetics and orthopedic devices; radiological services; dental prosthetics; and monthly health plan or dental plan payments.

Some aesthetic procedures that are performed by doctors, such as dermatologists, (and not by dentists or beauticians) and in medical settings may also appear in the declaration.

What cannot be deducted?

Medicines (even those for continuous use) are not deductible expenses; vaccines; nurses or companions; glasses or contact lenses; wheelchairs or crutches; hearing aids; consultations with acupuncturists; DNA tests to prove paternity; expenses for companions in hospital accommodation; expenses for people who are neither dependent nor supported; expenses for travel and accommodation for medical treatment.

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

How do I declare payment for the health plan?

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

However, for these expenses to be computed, the declaration must be made in the complete model, and not in the simplified one. It is only in the full version of the IRPF that expenses for health, education and dependents, for example, are included.

How do I declare health plan co-participation expenses?

The declarant can only consider health plan expenses in income tax if they were paid by him. If it is a plan paid in full by the company, without payroll deductions or co-participation, the expenses cannot be included in the declaration.

But if there is any co-participation component charged by the company, such as in the event of a consultation or procedure not covered or even expenses with dependents, the amount that came out of the taxpayer’s pocket may appear as health expenses in the employee’s declaration. In this case, the pay stub is sufficient as proof.

The same applies to the case of a health plan for a legal entity that has been paid in full by the declarant, for example, in the case of a person who acts as an individual microentrepreneur (MEI). In this situation, the taxpayer must prove that he was the one who incurred the expense and only then include it in the IRPF.

How do I declare reimbursement for consultations or procedures?

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

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

If the consultation cost R$500 and the amount reimbursed by the plan was R$180, you must declare the R$500 in the “Amount paid” field and the R$180 in the “Non-deductible installment/refunded amount” field. The system will therefore calculate that the amount to be considered for refund purposes is only R$320.