Hospital cover can be used in your tax return to avoid paying the Medicare Levy Surcharge. Your hospital cover information automatically populates on your tax return, so you do not need to do a thing. We explain all you need to know on this page.
To make tax time easier, health funds send all your health insurance information for tax purposes to the ATO for you. If you do your tax online or through an accountant, your information will be ready for you there.
We send your tax statements to the ATO for the financial year by the third week of July, so you can do your tax then.
Tax statements will be in our app’s secure inbox and Online Member Services, and sent get to the ATO by the third week of July.
This statement shows the total amount you have paid for health insurance this financial year (along with any Australian Government Rebate that you have received as a reduced premium).
You will receive one for each main adult on your membership. Any adult dependants on your membership can use your statement for their tax return.
- Health Insurer ID: A code used to identify each private health fund. Reserve Bank Health Society’s Health Insurer ID is RBH.
- Benefit code: This code is for the rebate. It identifies the age bracket people fall into.
- Your premiums eligible for the Australian Government Rebate: This is how much per person is eligible for the Rebate. The ATO takes your hospital and extras cover rates to get this number.
- Number of days this policy provides an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover: This is how many days of the year you are exempt from the Medicare levy. If your statement reads 365 (or 366 in a leap year), then you do not have to pay the Medicare levy.
Yes, access your two most recent statements on the app’s secure inbox and Online Member Services. Any further back than that and you will need to call us and one of our staff will be more than happy to email statements to you.
The rebate is a government contribution towards your health cover, whereas the Medicare levy is a tax for people who earn over a certain income who do not have hospital cover.
If you have pre-paid your cover to lock in the previous year’s rates, your contributions might appear to be $0, but that does not mean you need to pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
The key section is:
Number of days this policy provides an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover
If the number matches the number of days in the year, 366 in a leap year, then you will not have to pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
For most of our members who choose to claim the rebate as they go, it is done automatically. Your statement will tell you the dollar amount of personal rebate you received.
Otherwise, you can claim it at tax time.
No, the levy will be calculated only on the days you missed.