Medical Expenses You Can Claim Under Income Tax Reliefs

Part of the struggle of doing your taxes is figuring out which expenses you can claim for tax relief. It’s a struggle that you have to do, as properly figuring out your tax relief can help you reduce your chargeable income. This in turn will help you reduce the amount of tax you have to pay.

If planned properly, claiming your tax reliefs can help you save a significant amount on your taxes.

Updated list of medical tax reliefs

In Budget 2024, income tax relief limit for medical expenses has been increased from RM8,000 to RM10,000. This is effective from the year of assessment 2023 onwards.

But this raises a question; what other medical expenses can you claim for tax relief? We have rounded up the full list of every medical expense that you can claim under tax reliefs. 

Medical Tax Relief Types	Amount
Medical treatment, special needs and carer expenses for parents (Medical condition certified by medical practitioner)	RM8000 (restricted)
Purchase of basic supporting equipment for disabled self, spouse, child or parent	RM6000 (restricted)
Medical expenses for serious diseases for self, spouse or child	RM10,000 (restricted)
Medical expenses for fertility treatment for self or spouse
Vaccination expenses for self, spouse and child. Types of vaccine which qualify for deduction are as follows: i) Pneumococcal; ii) Human papillomavirus (HPV); iii) Influenza; iv) Rotavirus; v) Varicella; vi) Meningococcal; vii)TDAP combination (tetanus-diphtheria-acellular-pertussis); and viii)Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Restricted to RM1000)
(i) Complete medical examination including for mental health examination for self, spouse, child, and parents as defined by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC). (ii) COVID-19 detection test including purchase of self detection test kit for self, spouse, child. (Restricted to RM1000)
Learning disability diagnostic assessment, intervention or rehabilitation treatment (Restricted to RM4000)

By the way, these are tax reliefs you can claim for medical expenses you made in 2023.

This is not to be confused with some Budget 2024 announcements that are only applied for medical expenses you can make from 2024 onwards.

Note: Make sure that your medical expenses are from registered medical practitioners. This will allow you to claim for any of the specific tax relief above.

What medical expenses can you deduct for yourself, spouse, parents or dependents?

Medical expenses can become very costly . What more if you have to pay not only for yourself, but for your spouse, parents and dependents.

Remember to keep all those receipts for various healthcare and medical expenses because you may be able to claim some of them back during tax time!

Here’s a breakdown of each medical tax relief so you can understand what exactly are the expenses that you can claim for tax relief, and what you can’t.

Medical treatment, special needs and carer expenses for parents 

According to the Explanatory Notes provided by LHDN, this section is for any medical treatment that is incurred on your parents. Parents refer to your birth parents, or your foster parents if you’re adopted.

The expenses that qualify for deductions include;

i) Medical care and treatment provided by a nursing home; and

ii) Dental examinations and treatment expenses not including cosmetic dental treatment expenses.

However, any such claim needs to be certified by a medical practitioner registered with the Malaysia Medical Council (MMC) that the medical condition of parents require medical treatment, special needs or a carer.

Your parents also need to be individuals residing in Malaysia, and the medical treatment and care services are also provided in Malaysia.

Purchase of basic supporting equipment for disabled self, spouse, child or parent 

For this tax relief claim, the purchase of any necessary basic supporting equipment is allowed as a deduction if;

i) the individual, if he / she is a disabled person; or

ii) the spouse, if he / she is a disabled person; or

iii) his / her child, if the child is a disabled person; or

iv) his / her parent, who is a disabled person.

However, this deduction is not allowed if the disabled individual that the purchase is for is not registered with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) as a disabled person. 

The basic supporting equipment includes hemodialysis machine, wheel chair, artificial leg and hearing aids, but spectacles and optical lenses are not included.

Medical expenses for serious diseases, fertility treatment, vaccination, checkups, and COVID-19 tests

Now for these three medical expenses that we’re going to break down will be lumped together under the same category for one simple reason; they all share the same total RM10000 that can be claimed for tax relief.

What this means is that for example, if you’re going to claim an RM4000 tax relief for medical expenses for serious diseases, you will be left with only RM6000 that you can claim for your fertility treatment and vaccination expenses.

• Medical expenses for serious diseases

For this section, the medical expenses that you can claim for serious diseases include the treatment of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Parkinson’s disease, cancer, renal failure, leukemia and other similar diseases.

Other similar diseases that qualify as serious diseases include heart attack, pulmonary hypertension, chronic liver disease, fulminant viral hepatitis, head trauma with neurological deficit, tumor in brain or vascular malformation, major burns, major organ transplant and major amputation of limbs.

Just like the first section, a receipt of the treatment and a certification issued by a medical practitioner registered with the MMC must be presented in your tax relief claims form.

• Medical expenses for fertility treatment

Now for this medical expense, it encompasses any expenses you make for fertility treatment, which includes Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) treatment, In vitro fertilization (IVF) or any other fertility treatments including consultation fees and medicines on yourself or your spouse.

The conditions for this tax relief is that you and your spouse need to be legally married, and your expenses are certified by a medical practitioner registered with the MMC.

• Vaccination expenses

The types of vaccine that is eligible for this medical expense tax relief are;

(i) Pneumococcal; 

(ii) Human papillomavirus (HPV); 

(iii) Influenza; 

(iv) Rotavirus; 

(v) Varicella; 

(vi) Meningococcal; 

(vii) Combination of tetanus-diphtheria-acellular-pertussis (Tdap); and 

(viii)Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

The amount for tax relief allowed on this expense is up to RM1000, and it is allowed on the amount used for vaccinations for yourself, your spouse, and your children.

• Complete medical examination

A complete medical examination; for tax relief purposes, refers to a thorough examination as defined by the MMC.

For this medical expense, you can claim up to RM1000, and it is applicable for any complete medical examinations done on you, your spouse, your children, and your parents.

• COVID-19 detection tests

And the final medical expense that you can claim for tax relief is for any type of COVID-19 detection tests, including the self-test detection kits.

For a normal COVID-19 detection test such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or the Rapid test kit-Antigen (RTK-Ag) tests, you’re going to need a receipt issued by a hospital or a clinic that is a member of the MMC.

For self detection test kits, the purchase receipt will be needed as evidence for tax relief purposes.

We hope that our breakdown of each expense provides you with the information you need to properly claim your tax reliefs when doing your income tax filing this year.