(2021)
What medical expenses can I deduct?
As medical expenses, you can deduct all costs incurred in connection with an illness. You can enter these as extraordinary expenses in your tax return without limit.
The tax office automatically deducts the reasonable deductible, which depends on your income, marital status, and number of children. This deductible ranges from one to seven percent of your annual income and is taken into account for all general extraordinary expenses, including medical expenses.
Expenses you can claim as medical costs include:
- medical treatment
- health spas, physiotherapy, etc.
- care services
- alternative practitioners or homeopaths
- medication
- pharmacy co-payments
- medical aids
- hospital stays
- travel to the doctor, hospital, physiotherapy, etc.
Travel expenses: If you travel to the doctor by public transport, you can deduct the actual costs incurred, so keep the tickets. However, if you travel by car, you can deduct a flat rate of 0.30 Euro per kilometre.
You can also claim the costs for dental prostheses or a cure. However, not the expenses for visiting a sick person or measures to prevent illness, such as a diet or a back massage for relaxation.
Tipp
For health courses aimed at fitness or weight reduction that are not prescribed by a doctor, you should try to obtain a credit from your health insurance company through a bonus booklet. Many statutory health insurance companies offer this – ask your health insurance company directly.
Conversely, you must also deduct reimbursements or co-payments from the health insurance, pension, or accident insurance from your expenses before entering them in the tax return. However, you do not have to have payments from daily sickness allowance insurance credited.
An exception applies to certain bonus payments from your statutory health insurance. This means: If costs for health measures are reimbursed by the statutory health insurance as part of a bonus programme to promote health-conscious behaviour (according to § 65a SGB V) that are not included in the regular insurance coverage and have therefore been privately financed in advance by the insured, this reimbursement is a benefit from the health insurance and not a premium refund. The health insurance contributions deductible as special expenses are therefore not to be reduced by the amount of the reimbursement. Such a benefit from the health insurance only exists in cases where, according to the specific bonus model conditions, the insured person must have incurred costs for additional health measures in advance, which are then reimbursed on the basis of proof of costs ((BMF letter dated 06.12.2016, IV C 3 - S 2221/12/10008; BFH ruling dated 01.06.2016, X R 17/15).
SteuerGo
Currently, the Federal Fiscal Court has ruled that bonus payments from private health insurance "to promote cost-conscious behaviour" are to be regarded as premium refunds and therefore reduce the deductible special expenses if the bonuses are paid regardless of whether the policyholder has incurred financial health expenses or not (BFH ruling dated 16.12.2020, X R 31/19).
Text reviews: What medical expenses can I deduct?
4.12
of 5
Number of reviews: 17
