South Africa Medical Scheme Fees Tax Credit Calculator
The monthly credit for each person on your scheme, the extra credit and the tax it saves.
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- Free preview: your medical tax credits for the year in full, with the first rows of each table (up to 3) and the first step of the working; every other figure is hidden.
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2027 tax year · 2026/27 South Africa · SARS medical tax credits · Sources
How your credits are worked out
What they do to your tax
The working
Rules used and official sources
Medical scheme fees tax credit for the 2027 tax year: R376 a month for the first person, R376 for the second and R254 for each further person. Additional credit: 33,3% from 65 or with a disability, otherwise 25% above 7,5% of taxable income.
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Tax rules and rates change. This calculator follows the rules described on this page and may not cover every situation. Check the official source or a qualified tax professional before filing or invoicing.
How this tool is checked
- Based on
- the rules of South Africa.
- Sources
-
This guide cites 4 sources, among them:
- Tests
- 22 automated tests check its results.
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About the South Africa Medical Scheme Fees Tax Credit Calculator
South Africa gives two medical tax credits instead of a deduction. The medical scheme fees tax credit (section 6A) is a fixed amount for every month you pay fees to a registered medical scheme: for the 2027 tax year, R376 for the first person covered, R376 for the second and R254 for each further person (SARS medical tax credit rates). The additional medical expenses tax credit (section 6B) adds part of what you pay beyond that: 33,3% of the fees above three times your credit plus your out-of-pocket expenses if you are 65 or older or a disability affects you, your spouse or your child, and otherwise 25% of the fees above four times the credit plus those expenses, only as far as they come to more than 7,5% of your taxable income (SARS additional medical expenses tax credit).
Enter who is on your scheme and for how many months, the fees, your out-of-pocket costs and your taxable income. The calculator works out both credits and takes them off your tax the way SARS does: tax from the rates table, less the rebates, less the scheme fees credit, less the additional credit, each only as far as tax is left. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
How to use it
- Choose the tax year and your age on its last day (the end of February): 65 and 75 change the rebates, and 65 changes the additional credit.
- Choose how many people are on the scheme for the fees you pay (you and your dependants, or only dependants when you are not a member) and for how many months. Tick the box if the number changed during the year, and enter the other months.
- Enter the fees you paid, a month or for the year, with any your employer paid for you; the out-of-pocket medical expenses you paid and could not recover; and your taxable income.
- Tick the disability box only if you, your spouse or your child has a disability that a doctor has confirmed on SARS’s ITR-DD form. Under “Shared fees and PAYE” enter your share if someone else pays part of the same fees, and your PAYE for a refund estimate.
- Read the credits for the year: they show in full in the free preview, while the cards, the tables beyond their first rows, the working, Copy, the CSV download and Print need a pass or unlocking this result.
Examples
R1 220 a month (R364 + R364 + 2 × R246) × 12 = R14 640
Example 7 of SARS’s guide on medical tax credits.
Credit for the fees: R728 × 12 = R8 736
Additional credit: 33,3% × [(R61 200 − 3 × R8 736) + R8 750] = R14 566,08
Example 16 of the guide: the tax for the year comes to R54 195,92.
Additional credit: 25% × [(R143 000 − 4 × R17 592) + R24 866 − 7,5% × R1 042 000] = R4 837
Example 19 of the guide.
R364 × 12 = R4 368 for her cover, so each sibling claims half: R2 184
Example 10 of the guide (section 6A(3A)).
Credit for the fees R9 024; additional credit 33,3% × [(R36 000 − 3 × R9 024) + R30 000] = R12 963,02
The example in SARS’s provisional tax guide, which rounds the additional credit to R12 963.
Credit for the fees R12 072; additional credit 25% × (R20 000 − 7,5% × R200 000) = R1 250
Her fees are below four times the credit, so only the expenses above 7,5% of her income count.
The medical scheme fees tax credit
- 2027 tax year: R376 a month for the person who pays the fees (or the first dependant, if that person is not a member), R376 for the second person and R254 for each further person.
- 2026 tax year: R364, R364 and R246.
It counts for every month you pay fees to a scheme registered under the Medical Schemes Act (or a similar foreign fund) for yourself and your dependants: your spouse, your children and your spouse’s children, other family members you are legally liable to support, and anyone the scheme’s rules recognise as your dependant. Fees your employer pays for you count as yours once they are taxed as a fringe benefit. Gap cover and hospital plans sold by insurers do not count. When two or more people pay the same fees, each gets the credit in the ratio of the fees they pay (guide on medical tax credits).
The additional medical expenses tax credit
- 65 or older: 33,3% × [(fees − 3 × the scheme fees credit) + qualifying expenses].
- You, your spouse or your child has a disability: the same 33,3% formula. The disability must be moderate to severe, last or be expected to last more than a year, and be confirmed by a registered medical practitioner on the ITR-DD form. A parent’s disability counts under the next formula instead.
- Everyone else: 25% × [(fees − 4 × the scheme fees credit) + qualifying expenses − 7,5% × taxable income], never below nil. Taxable income here leaves out retirement fund lump sums and severance benefits.
Qualifying expenses are what you paid in the tax year and could not recover: registered doctors, dentists, optometrists and other practitioners, hospitals and nursing, medicine on prescription, treatment abroad of the same kind, and costs that SARS lists for a disability or a physical impairment. Payments from a medical savings account are the scheme’s, not yours. An expense counts in the year you pay it, not the year of the treatment (SARS medical credits).
What the credits do to your tax
The credits come off your tax after the primary, secondary and tertiary rebates, the scheme fees credit first. Neither can bring the tax below nil: what is left over is lost, not refunded and not carried forward. An employer that pays your fees to the scheme takes the scheme fees credit off your PAYE every month, and may do so for fees you pay yourself once you show proof; from 65 it also takes off 33,3% of the fees above three times the credit. Out-of-pocket expenses are claimed only in your income tax return. If no employer applied the credit (a pensioner paying fees privately, a self-employed person), it is claimed in the return too. Rates of tax and rebates: SARS rates of tax for individuals.
Limitations
- An estimate from what you enter: SARS decides the credits on assessment, and you need the scheme’s certificate and proof of the expenses you paid.
- It does not check whether an expense qualifies or whether a condition meets the definition of a disability; SARS publishes the list of disability and impairment expenses.
- It works out the 2026 and 2027 tax years only.
- A dependant’s own income, or fees paid by a deceased estate, may change who can claim; check the guide for those cases.
Privacy
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Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, South Africa Medical Scheme Fees Tax Credit Calculator shows your medical tax credits for the year in full, with the first rows of each table (up to 3) and the first step of the working; every other figure is hidden. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded, copied or printed. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
How much is the medical tax credit for the 2027 tax year?
R376 a month for the first person on the scheme, R376 for the second and R254 for each further person: R9 024 a year for a couple covered all year.
I pay my mother’s medical aid but I am not a member. Can I claim?
Yes, if she is your dependant: someone you are legally liable to support. The first person covered gets R376 a month whether or not you are a member yourself. If your brother pays half, each of you claims half the credit.
Why is my additional medical expenses credit nil?
Under 65 and without a disability, only the fees above four times your scheme fees credit plus your out-of-pocket costs count, and only as far as they come to more than 7,5% of your taxable income. With modest fees and costs that is often nothing.
Do the fees my employer pays count?
Yes. They are a taxable fringe benefit on your IRP5, so they are added to your income and count as fees you paid, for both credits.
Can the medical credits give me a refund?
Not on their own. They only reduce the tax on your income, never below nil. You get money back only when your PAYE or provisional tax was more than the tax left after the credits.