Tax relief on implants??

W123-80's

Hello all,

I'm looking for some help/advice.

I've had alot of difficulty lately with my two front teeth, which were both crowned (Circa '02). Basically I took a belt playing football (No gumshield!) and broke one and badly infected the other, which also fell out.

Three seperate dentists have advised me implants are my best option at this stage.

I have now decided on a dentist in the north of Ireland, and they have already fitted me with a temporary denture consisting of two front teeth.

I have just been checking revenue.ie and I am concerned that implants are not mentioned in the list of procedures that are covered for tax relief.
Can anyone clarify this?
All other forms of tooth construction seems to be mentioned i.e bridges, crowns & caps, but no mention of implants.

I also assumed the money I spent to date on the temporary dentures would be covered for tax relief, according to revenue.ie I am wrong.

Also does anyone know if treatment carried out in the north of Ireland actually qualifies for tax relief in the south on the med 2 form.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

EileenG

Don't know about the implants, but as far as I know, all dental work, no matter where carried out, qualified for tax relief. However, the rate at which you get relief has just dropped, so don't expect too much back.

davo10

EileenG is wrong, only certain dental treatments qualify for tax relief, these are considered to be the expensive/high end treatments such as crowns/bridges/root treatments/surgical extraction of wisdom teeth/periodontal treatment etc. You must get a signed Med2 form from your dentist, there is a list of qualifying treatments on the back of this. Routine dental treatment such as exams/fillings/extractions/scalings/acrylic dentures do not qualify.

Implants are not on this list, however the crown/bridge placed on it can be claimed, your dentist may/may not load the total fee on the crown when filling out this form.

NUTLEY BOY

Revenue exclude relief for ".... provision of artificial teeth...". So, if they interpret implants as artificial teeth they might disallow that element.

It might be a good idea to send a specific WRITTEN enquiry to Revenue about this before you venture forth. Specify the procedures that you require to undergo and ask which qualify for relief. Also, ask them about the N. Ireland question.

You should then know where you stand financially before incurring expenditure especially as any relief that you receive will be at 20% only since 01.01.2009.

W123-80's

I would have assumed that crowns & bridges were technicaly artifical teeth too!
I'm definately going to have to investigate a bit further.
It seems pretty silly that all other major work is covered yet a major job like implants are not.
Thanks for all the replies.
I'll let ye know how I go.

davo10

One possibility for implants not being covered is that the med2 forms have not been updated for years, they were originally introduced in an era of dentistry when implants were not widely available nor sought after. If revenue updated the forms to include implants they would lose more in tax revenue, implants are more expensive than other treatments on list therefore tax relief amounts would be greater.

EileenG

I talked to a very nice taxman today who consulted his computer and told me that, yes, dental implants and bone grafts etc are all covered, in the same way that crowns and root canals are. Also, any qualifying dental treatment can be claimed (at 20%) no matter where it was done, as long as the dentist fills out a Med2 form. If you have a good enough receipt, you can even manage without the dentist filling in the Med2, but I'd carry one with me to non-Irish dentists.

W123-80's

EileenG wrote: »

I talked to a very nice taxman today who consulted his computer and told me that, yes, dental implants and bone grafts etc are all covered, in the same way that crowns and root canals are. Also, any qualifying dental treatment can be claimed (at 20%) no matter where it was done, as long as the dentist fills out a Med2 form. If you have a good enough receipt, you can even manage without the dentist filling in the Med2, but I'd carry one with me to non-Irish dentists.

Cheers guys,

I have all the info I was looking for, and its all good news too boot..!!

Thanks again.

Carraboat

I had bone graphs & implants in 2008, in Ireland, at a cost of 24,000 which my lovely daughter and son-in-law funded as a 60th birthday present. They factored in a 40% tax relief when they budgeted for this gift, they had checked the the rules with the tax office. It seems you can apply if you 'payed for' or 'inccured the debit'. However this claim has been refused after a 'creditibilty check'. We can show the money being transfered from my son-in-laws bank account into mine and the subsiquent payments to the dentists from my account as treatments took place. But as the invoices are in my name and not my son-in-laws this is not deemed to be proof that he 'paid' for the treatments. So beware.... if you are going to use this option to claim relief ensure all invoices / receipts are in the correct name and a clear audit trail can be proved or you could be 10,000 out-of-pocket too!!!