Medical Insurance Premium : Tax Benefits (under Section 80D)

Health Insurance or Mediclaim insurance is a must-have for all. Considering the rate at which medical costs are rising, it is very important to have sufficient medical insurance coverage. Absence of health insurance may wipe out your savings. Having sufficient coverage will safeguard you and your dependents from getting into financial crisis during hospitalization or critical illnesses’ treatments or accidents.

Besides medical coverage, health insurance plans can provide Tax benefits to you. In this post, let us understand the Tax deduction benefits that are available for Health Insurance (or) Mediclaim plans.

The premium paid towards medical insurance is tax deductible under section 80D (u/s 80D) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

You can claim tax deductions, provided you are paying the premium on a mediclaim policy which is in the name of

• Yourself (and / or)
• Your Spouse (and / or)
• Your Parents ( Parents need not be dependent on you) (and / or)
•  Dependent Children

Tax deduction of Health Insurance Premium (Section 80d)

Health insurance premium paid for Self, Spouse or dependent children is tax deductible upto Rs 25,000. Earlier the limit was Rs 15,000 and this limit has been increased to Rs 25,000 in Budget 2015-2016. If any one of the persons specified is a senior citizen  and Mediclaim Insurance premium is paid for such senior citizen then the deduction amount now is Rs. 30,000. From Financial Year 2015-2016, this limit is increased to Rs 30,000 from Rs 20,000 (applicable in FY 2014-2015).

Example 1 : Mr Reddy (30 years) has employer’s mediclaim coverage. He pays Rs 8,000 as premium. The coverage is applicable for Mr & Mrs Reddy and their son. He  has also included his parents (father 55 years & mother 52 years) under his employer’s medical insurance scheme. For parents coverage he pays Rs 16,000. He wants to know how much he can claim as total tax deduction under Section 80d?

Since no one in the family has attained 60 years of age, Mr Reddy can claim a tax deduction of Rs 24,000 (Rs 8000 + Rs 16,000).

Example 2 : Mr Gupta (45 years) is a self-employed person. He has taken Health insurance plan and pays a premium of Rs 26,000. He also pays Rs 31,000 towards his parents’ coverage ( his Father’s age is 62 years & mother’s age is 58 years). What is the total tax deduction application in his case?

Mr Gupta can claim a total tax deduction of Rs 55,000 only (Rs 25,000 + Rs 30,000)

Important points on Medical insurance policies & Tax benefits

• You can claim tax deductions on mediclaim plans provided by your employer or on policies taken by you (independent of your employment). The tax deduction is applicable on both health insurance and mediclaim policies.
• Premium amount can not paid in cash. Mode of payment can be anything (through credit card, net banking etc.,) except cash payment.
• You can take medical insurance policy on your dependent children and claim tax deductions too. If they are aged above 18 years and employed then they can not be covered. Male children if not employed then they can be covered upto 25 years. Whereas, female children can be covered until she gets married (only if she is unemployed).
• If you are paying health insurance premiums of your in-laws then you can not claim tax deductions. However your spouse can pay the premiums from her taxable income and get the tax benefits.
• If you are paying medical insurance premiums on behalf of your sister or brother then you can not claim tax deductions.
• Only premium amount can be claimed as a tax deduction. Do not include the service tax amount.

 Preventive Health checkup & Section 80D

Preventive health checkup (Medical checkups) expenses to the extent of Rs5,000/- can be claimed as tax deductions. Remember, this is not over and above the individual limits as explained above.

Example – Mr Mehta (65 years) has mediclaim policy and paid Rs 25,000 as premium . He also spent Rs 6,000 towards health check-up. He wants to know what is the total tax deductible amount?

Since he is a senior citizen, the medical insurance premium to the extent of Rs 30,000 can be claimed as tax deduction under Section 80D. Even though he incurred Rs 31,000 ( Rs 25 k + 6k) as expenses, he can only claim tax deduction to the extent of Rs 30,000 only.

Budget 2015 : Deduction u/s 80D on health insurance premium will be Rs 25,000, increased from Rs 15000. For Senior Citizens it has been increased to Rs 30,000 from the existing Rs 20,000. For very senior citizen above the age of 80 years, not eligible to take health insurance, deduction is allowed for Rs 30,000 toward medical expenditure.

Difference between Mediclaim (Section 80d) & Medical Allowance (Section 10):

Do not get confused between your medical reimbursement allowance and mediclaim expenses. Medical allowance is provided by your employer. It is part of your employment agreement (salary structure) between your employer and yourself.

You can get medical allowance upto Rs 15,000 as an exempted income from your Gross salary. To claim this, you need to submit medical bills to your employer and get the allowance benefit. The medical reimbursement allowance is exempted under Section 10 of the Income Tax Act.

If you have submitted medical bills (to your employer) towards medical allowance and also paid premium towards your mediclaim (health insurance) then both of them will be listed in your Form-16 under different sections as shown below (click on the images to open them in new browser window).

(Continuing with Mr Mehta’s case, Mr Mehta incurred Rs 6000 as medical check-up costs. Upto Rs 5000 can be part of his tax deduction under Section 80d as mediclaim premium and the remaining Rs 1000 can be exempted under Section 10D as medical allowance provided he is employed).

If your employer provides medical insurance then in most of the cases it is automatically included in your Form-16. If you have independent mediclaim policies (or) you hold medical insurance plan as a self-employed person then do not forget to claim tax deductions. Show your medical insurance premiums under Section 80D while filing Income Tax Returns.

Budget 2018-19 Update :

• The premium paid by Senior citizens on Health Insurance policies of up to Rs 50,000 (current limit is Rs 30,000) can now be claimed as tax deduction u/s 80D for FY 2018-19.
• The Standard deduction of Rs 40,000 will be provided for all salaried individuals in lieu of Transport and Medical re-reimbursement allowances from FY 2018-19.
• Continue reading :
  • Income Tax Deductions List FY 2018-19 | List of important Income Tax Exemptions for AY 2019-20
  • Health Insurance Tax Benefits (under Section 80D) for FY 2018-19 / AY 2019-20

Related Articles :

• Difference between Individual (Personal) & Employer based Group Health Insurance Plans
• Best Family Floater Health Insurance Plans
• Best Health Insurance plans for Senior Citizens

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