Income Tax | Non-reimbursed healthcare expenses

It is possible to deduct certain healthcare expenses in your income tax return. This is subject to a number of conditions:

• The expenses may not be within your own risk;
• The expenses are incurred because of illness or disability (prevention is not known to the tax authorities);
• The expenses may not be reimbursed under the basic or supplementary insurance;
• The expenses may only be deducted in the year in which they were paid.

Keep the receipts well! The tax authorities may ask for them. 

The good news is that allowances from, for example, the UWV (the Dutch Sickness Benefits Act) and - yes indeed - the tax authorities themselves do not have to be reported.

What expenses may I deduct?

The Tax Authorities have neatly summarized all this on their website. A few - about which we received questions last year - are listed here:

• Payment of health care premiums and excess: Too bad, these are not deductible.
• Glasses or contact lenses: Also not deductible, being able to see is apparently not important.
• Support soles and hearing aids: Those, on the other hand, are. Logical? No...
• Diets: Certain diets are deductible for a fixed amount. However, you need a prescription from a doctor or a dietician.
• IVF treatment: deductible, but there are age-related conditions. For example, you may not be older than 43.

Threshold

For the deduction of health care expenses, a threshold amount applies. After all, if you earn more you are financially better able to take care of yourself. Up to approximately € 41,000 this threshold is 1.65% of your income. From € 41,000 other standards apply and the threshold will be increased faster. All healthcare expenses above the threshold are deductible.