On 14 May 2013, the government announced that the 2013–14 budget will phase out the Net Medical Expense Tax Offset (“NMETO”), with it being phased out completely in July 2019. That may seem a long way off, but there was a 'catch'.
The 'catch' is that to be eligible to claim the NMETO for 2013/2014, the taxpayers needed to receive the NMETO for 2012/2013 in ATO’s assessment.
Taxpayers cannot claim the tax offset if they didn’t claim it in the previous year.
In 2014/2015 financial year, to be eligible to claim NMETO, the taxpayer needs to claim NMETO in both 2013/2014 and 2012/2013 financial year. It applies for each subsequent year until 1 July 2019 when the NEMTO is completely phased out.
It is important to seek advice whether you qualified for the NMETO so that you can keep claiming it in subsequent years.
We advise all our clients to keep all their medical receipts and advise us of any expected medical expenses so that we can maximize and target the various tax deductions that are available.