Extraordinary expenses as a tax advantage

The principle of tax deductibility

Lawmakers recognise that in some life situations people have to bear expenses that are well above the usual range – for example for a medically necessary treatment. This is where extraordinary expenses come in.

• Economic reasonablenessEvery taxpayer has a personal reasonable-burden threshold, measured against their taxable annual income in the year of treatment. Up to this threshold you bear health expenses yourself; anything above it you can claim for tax purposes.
• Your living arrangement countsFor different living arrangements, lawmakers have set different percentage shares of reasonable burden – depending on income, marital status and the number of your dependent children. There is therefore no flat-rate result.

The amount of the treatment costs is a key factor. A treatment at Weight Doctors is often so extensive that the threshold is exceeded for most of our patients. Medication or additional medical services that serve the treatment may also be deductible.

A high tax refund is possible

The size of a refund depends on your income, your marital status and the number of your children. Not infrequently, around 30%, sometimes even 40%, of the treatment costs can be refunded by the tax office. With a larger treatment such as Weight Doctors SLEEVE®, that can quickly be a four-figure sum.

You receive the refund after your tax return has been submitted and reviewed, with the income tax assessment for the year of treatment. Depending on when you submit the return, this can be the case after just a few weeks or only some months after your treatment. Where a claim is justified, the money is not lost for several years. This is how to proceed:

A refund is also possible with payment in instalments

The way your treatment is financed is irrelevant here: whether you pay in one go or use financing in instalments through medipay, a possible tax advantage is unaffected. In which year you claim the costs when financing is used is best discussed with your tax adviser.

Weight Doctors cannot guarantee a refund from your tax office and cannot give you individual tax advice. For specific questions about your tax situation, please contact a tax adviser who can explain your options to you in detail. Tax software into which you enter the relevant data can also provide orientation.

It is almost always worth checking your options. You can read about typical misconceptions and which treatments may come into question in the article Deducting treatment costs from tax; all prices are listed under Costs & Prices.