At a glance - Tax treatment of medical and dental care provided
| Nature |
Taxable/ Not taxable |
| 1 |
Reimbursements of medical and dental care / treatment provided for: |
|
| a) Employee, employee's spouse and children |
Not taxable if the benefits are available to all employees |
| b) Dependants other than those in (a) |
Taxable
More information on the scope of the administrative concession available
|
| 2 |
Medical benefits that are available to all employees, based on gender or age.
E.g. Breast cancer screening and maternity bills for female employees or health screening for employees above 40 years old.
|
Not taxable |
| 3 |
Medical care provided through medical insurance. The employer pays the insurance premium. |
The tax treatment depends on the type of medical insurance provided.
See topic on insurance premium
|
| 4 |
Reimbursement of transport expenses incurred for medical consultation |
Taxable as it is not regarded as reimbursement for medical care but one for private expenses |
Reimbursement for treatment on medical and dental care
Q1 Are reimbursements for expenses incurred on traditional Chinese medicine taxable?
These reimbursements are not taxable.
Q2 Are reimbursements for the purchase of health supplements, contact lens and eyeglasses taxable?
These reimbursements are taxable as they are not covered under the administrative concession.
Q3 Is there a difference in the tax treatment for General Practitioner (GP) outpatient medical bills and specialist medical bills?
There is no difference in the tax treatment. If both benefits are available to all employees, the reimbursement for both types of bills are not taxable.
Q4 The amount of reimbursement on the same benefit (e.g hospitalisation) depends on the employee’s grade. Does it affect the tax treatment?
Applying different thresholds for staff of different grades does not affect the tax treatment. The reimbursements are not taxable.
Q5 Is there a threshold amount beyond which the reimbursement of medical and dental expenses will be subject to tax?
No.
Q6 The medical and dental benefits are made under a flexible benefits scheme where employees are given various benefits to choose from. What is the tax treatment?
Offering medical and dental benefits under the flexible benefits scheme (also known as cafeteria benefits) does not change the tax treatment of the benefits. See information on flexible benefits scheme.