Medical Expenses Deduction For Senior Citizen

Citizens in their golden years should ideally be living a life free of financial burdens, with enough access to medical facilities and routine tasks which have been eased for their age. But often, a lot of the policies do not accurately factor in senior citizens, their finances, and/or their existing medical conditions.If we were to speak about medical insurance policies for senior citizens specifically, a lot of them either have very high premiums and/or insurers are reluctant to provide medical insurance to senior citizens with pre-existing medical conditions.Considering such scenarios, the government in the 2018 Budget announced amendments to Section 80D , which allowed senior citizens' medical bills as valid deductions for tax saving.

The eligibility to claim these deductions during a particular financial year consists of two conditions:

• Person claiming the deduction must be above 60 years of age. In case they aren’t paying for their medical expenses, their children who’ve paid these bills can claim deductions.
• The senior citizen must not be covered under any other existing medical insurance policy.

The Income Tax Act doesn’t define the ailments or types of medical expenditure in the amendment. However, experts point out that consultation fees, medicines, medical devices like pacemakers, hearing aids, etc. will be considered under this amendment.In addition to Section 80D, section 80DDB has specific medical conditions defined for certain age groups. In case your medical condition falls in that category, you may claim it under section 80DDB. In case it doesn’t and/or you have exhausted your limit, you many claim the rest of the medical expenditure under section 80D. The maximum deduction allowed in a financial year is Rs. 50,000.Experts also claim that medical expenditure incurred in cash will not be valid for the deduction. Expenditure done via cheque, draft, debit card, net banking, or via UPI channels will be considered. However, preventive health check-ups upto Rs. 5000 can be made in cash. These check-ups are the ones undertaken to safeguard oneself from possible exposure to ailments.

The Income Tax Act itself doesn’t specify the list of documents; however, it would be wise to save prescriptions and medical history documents, medical bills/invoices of medicines, and diagnostic tests.

The information contained herein is generic in nature and is meant for educational purposes only. Nothing here is to be construed as an investment or financial or taxation advice nor to be considered as an invitation or solicitation or advertisement for any financial product. Readers are advised to exercise discretion and should seek independent professional advice prior to making any investment decision in relation to any financial product. Aditya Birla Capital Group is not liable for any decision arising out of the use of this information.