Do you know this about the tax benefits for preventive health check-up?

Arnav Pandya

There is a tax benefit for various kinds of premiums paid on insurance policies and one of them relates to the figure paid on medical insurance policies. There is however another part to the tax benefit of the expenses here because if there is an amount spent for preventive check up then this will be allowed. There are different conditions that might come into play and hence one has to be ready for such a situation. Here are some of the conditions that people might face and the manner in which they can handle it.

Amount of benefit

Out of the total amount of benefit that is available under Section 80D for payment of medical insurance premium there is a part which can be claimed for amounts spent other than on premium paid. This is the amount spent on preventive health check up which can be upto a sum of Rs 5,000. One has to remember that the amount here is within the limit of Section 80D and is not an extra benefit for the individual in terms of an excess amount over the maximum limit fixed.

For those who are not using the full limit this could be an extra benefit as it will help them take a higher tax benefit. As the name suggests this is the amount that has been paid for a preventive health check up and hence needs to be considered carefully as it should not be confused with other expenses that are related to medical expenses.

Process

The process for claiming the benefit is that the individual would mention the details related to the claim in their return and then submit this to the tax authorities. Since there are now no attachments to be submitted the figure of the deduction claimed is enough at this stage for the process to move ahead.

The tax assessing officer can then call for additional details if they want some proof and hence this would have to be submitted by the tax payer. This is the reason why they should ensure that the necessary proof and other documents related to the health check ups should be kept so that in case these are required then they can be submitted quickly.

Additional requirement

Often the taxpayer gets worried when the tax officer calls for various documents or proof however this is not something that should get them worked up. There are various details that can be called for and knowing about them can be very helpful for the tax payer. Some of the details that can be asked for include the receipt for the payment made for the tests. This is a natural thing because there would have been a payment made for the tests and a receipt issued for the same.

This will mention the way in which the payment was made and the amount of the payment. It will enable the tax officers to further verify the payment which could be in terms of matching various details. The other thing that might be present is a bill for the services provided and even this might be called for.

In some cases both the bill and the receipt might not be present and if this is the case then the same should be mentioned. Also in order to verify the details further sometimes the tax officer also calls for the reports of the tests that have been made. This would be the conclusive proof and submitting these details should not be a tough task. This is the reason why one must keep the various records too of the tests that have been made.