Things to know
Complete this section if at any time during 2020–21 you:
- were covered by a private health insurance policy, or
- paid for a dependent-child-only policy.
If you don't have your own policy, you may be covered as a dependent child on your family policy.
The government has changed the Private Health Insurance Act 2007. Since these changes only passed into law on 29 June 2021, they should not affect how you complete the private health insurance details on your 2021 tax return.
The changes:
- increase the maximum age for children to be covered as a dependent person under a family, single parent or dependent person-only private health insurance policy from under 25 years old to under 32 years old
- allow children with a disability, regardless of their age and marital status, to be covered as a dependent person under a family, single parent or dependent person-only private health insurance policy.
You should talk to your health insurer if you want to change your policy or add other dependants to your family policy.
We use the information at this section to work out your share of any private health insurance rebate that you may be entitled to.
Private health insurance rebate
If you meet the eligibility requirements for a private health insurance rebate, you can claim your rebate as either:
- a premium reduction which lowers the policy price charged by your insurer
- a refundable tax offset when you lodge your tax return.
The private health insurance rebate is income tested. If you share the policy, you will be income tested on your share.
Your rebate entitlement:
- depends on your family status on 30 June. Different thresholds apply depending on whether you have a single income or a family income
- is based on the age of the oldest person covered by the policy.
When you lodge your tax return, we calculate your income for surcharge purposes and determine your rebate entitlement. Depending on how you claimed the rebate, and the percentage you claimed, this may result in a tax liability and/or a tax offset.
- If you haven't claimed the full rebate as a premium reduction, we calculate the rebate amount you are entitled to. This becomes payable to you as a refundable tax offset when we assess your tax return. The tax offset is added together with any other tax offsets that you receive and will appear as a credit in the myTax estimate and on your notice of assessment.
- If you claimed too much rebate as a premium reduction, we recover the amount as a tax liability. This liability will be listed in the myTax estimate and on your notice of assessment as an Excess private health insurance reduction or refund.
Your private health insurance statement
It is optional for health insurers to provide you with a private health insurance statement. A statement may only be provided if you request one from your registered health insurer.
We aim to pre-fill your tax return by 20 July with private health insurance policies provided to us. You can check our website, at Health fund data, to confirm if your health fund has sent us your information.
To add policies not pre-filled, or to check pre-filled policies, you need to refer to your statement information. To obtain your statement information, go to your health insurer's website for details on viewing your statement information online, or to request a printed statement.
See also:
Dependent child
For this section, the definition of a dependent child is affected by the rules of your health fund.
If you don't have your own policy but you are covered on your family policy and you are under 25 years of age, you may be covered as a dependent child.
If you are unsure about whether this applies to you, check your family private health insurance policy details or contact your insurer.
See also:
Completing this section
Note: If you are an overseas visitor, for more information and instructions on how to complete the Medicare levy surcharge and this section, see Overseas visitors.
We pre-fill your tax return with private health insurance policies provided to us. Check them and add any additional policies you held, or policy details, that have not pre-filled.
We may have pre-filled the tax claim code for you based on your last year's tax return.
When checking or adding policies, use your statement information (or family statement information, if covered as a dependent child). If you don't have your statement information, see Your private health insurance policy statement.
In most cases, there will be two rows of information on your private health insurance statement. One row relates to premiums you paid and rebate you received before 1 April, and the other row relates to premiums you paid and rebate you received on or after 1 April.
At Personalise return, you don't need to make a selection to show private health insurance as it's always displayed at Prepare return.
At Prepare return, select 'Add/Edit' at the Medicare and private health insurance banner.
At the Private health insurance heading:
- For each of your private health insurance policies that are:
- pre-filled, go to step 2
- not pre-filled, go to step 5.
- Is there a 'Record complete' indicator at the pre-filled policy details?
Yes – go to step 3.
No – go to step 4. - Check each pre-filled policy line panel, including the Tax claim code, and correct if necessary. Do not combine the policy lines. If unsure of your tax claim code, visit Working out your tax claim code.
Go to step 9. - Select the Tax claim code that applies to you in each policy line panel. If you are unsure of your tax claim code, visit Working out your tax claim code. Check each pre-filled policy line panel and correct if necessary. Don't combine the policy lines.
Go to step 9. - For each private health insurance policy that has not been pre-filled, select Add and enter information into the corresponding fields:
- Select your Health insurer IDExternal Link
- Enter your Membership number.
- From your private health insurance statement information, for each policy line set up a policy line panel.
Enter each policy line separately, as they appear on your private health insurance statement. Do not combine the policy lines.
Go to step 7.- If you need to enter more policy line panels in myTax, select Add policy line.
- If you have any policy line panels that you don’t need in myTax, select Delete to remove.
- In each policy line panel, select the Tax claim code that applies to you. If unsure of your tax claim code, visit Working out your tax claim code.
If you select Tax claim code A, B or C, go to step 8.
If you select Tax claim code E or F, got to step 12. - In each policy line panel:
- enter Your premiums eligible for Australian Government rebate (shown at J in your statement information). Don't show a percentage.
- enter Your Australian Government rebate received (shown at K in your statement information). Don't show a percentage.
- select the Benefit code (shown at L in your statement information).
- Note: Your statement information should include the name and an identifier that corresponds with these parts of the policy line panel (for example, L for Benefit code).
- In the policy line panel, is Tax claim code C selected?
Yes – go to step 10.
No – go to step 12. - Did you indicate (in Spouse details) that you had a spouse on 30 June 2021?
Yes – go to step 11.
No – go to step 12. - Answer the question Do you want to claim your spouse's share?
To claim your spouse's share, you must meet all the following criteria:- you were both covered under the same policy
- you were both covered for the same period
- you were together on 30 June 2021
- your spouse must agree that you will claim.
If you answer Yes, for each of your policy line panels myTax will show your spouse's share in a corresponding read-only panel with Tax claim code D.
Answer No if you are claiming for a dependent-child-only policy or you are claiming only your share of the rebate.
- Select Save.
- Are all your private health insurance policy details included?
Yes – go to step 14.
No – go to step 1. - Select Save and continue when you have completed the Medicare and private health insurance section.
Dependent-child-only policies
If you are a dependent child
Dependent children are not eligible to claim a private health insurance rebate and don't get their own statement.
However, as a dependent child covered on a private health insurance policy, you need to complete this section so we can verify your insurance coverage. This will ensure you are not charged the Medicare levy surcharge (if your income is above the threshold).
Claiming for dependent-child-only policies
If you have paid for a dependent-child-only policy, you may be eligible to claim a private health insurance rebate for it.
If the parents of the dependent (or dependents) are:
- together – then one of the parents may claim the rebate. This applies regardless of which parent paid the policy
- no longer together – then the payer of the policy must claim the rebate, as long as the payer is not a dependent. The payer of the policy does not need to be a parent of the dependent.
Working out your tax claim code
Step 1 – Were you covered as a dependent child on a private health insurance policy?
Dependent child code
Select the code letter that describes your circumstances
Circumstances |
Code |
|---|---|
Yes – you were covered as a dependent child on a private health insurance policy. |
Tax claim code F Go to step 3 |
No – you were not covered as a dependent child on a private health insurance policy. |
Go to step 2 |
Step 2 – On 30 June 2021, were you:
- Single – go to Single tax claim codes
- Married or de facto (including if your spouse died during 2020–21 and you did not have another spouse before 30 June 2021) – go to Married or de facto tax claim codes
Dependants |
Code |
|---|---|
You have no dependants. Note: If you had dependants in your previous tax return but don't have them anymore, you need to change the Number of dependent children in the Income tests section. Tax claim code A will then be available for selection. |
Tax claim code A Go to step 3 |
|
Tax claim code B Go to step 3 |
Circumstances |
Code |
|---|---|
|
Tax claim code C Go to step 3 |
You want to claim both your share and your spouse's share of the rebate for the policy. To do this, you must meet all the following criteria:
Note: You confirm that you are claiming your spouse's share of the rebate at step 11 of Completing this section. This will automatically complete your spouse's share with tax claim code D. |
Tax claim code C Go to step 3 |
Your spouse is claiming your share of the rebate for the policy. |
Tax claim code E Go to step 3 |
Step 3 – You have worked out your tax claim code, return to Completing this section.
Overseas visitors
How to complete Medicare levy surcharge and private health insurance if you're an overseas visitor using myTax.
If you are an overseas visitor, how you complete Medicare levy surcharge and Private health insurance in myTax depends on your circumstances.
If you have an overseas health insurer
If your private health insurance provider is an overseas provider that is not registered in Australia, you will not be eligible for any rebate on your policy, and you may need to pay the Medicare levy surcharge if you don't meet the conditions for a Medicare levy exemption.
When completing myTax, you should:
At Medicare levy surcharge
- Answer No to the question Were you and all your dependants covered by an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021?
- Indicate the Number of days you do not have to pay the surcharge.
- In some instances, myTax may determine for you that you don't have to pay the Medicare levy surcharge.
- For more information, see Medicare levy surcharge.
At Private health insurance
- Not show any Private health insurance policies.
If you have a complying health insurance policy
You may receive private health insurance statement information from your insurance provider if you:
- have an Australian-registered complying health insurance policy
- are eligible for Medicare
- are a private health insurance incentive beneficiary (PHIIB).
When completing myTax, if you and all your dependents were covered under a complying health insurance policy for the full year with the appropriate level of private patient hospital cover, you should:
At Medicare levy surcharge
- Answer Yes to the question Were you and all your dependants covered by an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021?
At Private health insurance
- Show your Private health insurance policies. For more information, see Completing this section.
If you are not eligible for Medicare
If you are an overseas visitor who is not eligible for Medicare, you are not entitled to any private health insurance rebate.
However, you can still purchase a complying health insurance policy with an Australian-registered health insurer. You will need to confirm the details of your private health insurance statement information. Your statement information will include the amount of premiums paid (at label J), while the rebate received at label K will be zero ($0).
If the complying health insurance policy provides you and all your dependants with the appropriate level of private patient hospital cover, you will be eligible to claim an exemption from the Medicare levy surcharge.
When completing myTax, you should:
At Medicare levy surcharge
- Answer No to the question Were you and all your dependants covered by an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021?
- Indicate the Number of days you do not have to pay the surcharge.
- In some instances, myTax may determine for you that you do not have to pay the Medicare levy surcharge.
- If not, and you and all your dependants, including your spouse, were covered under the appropriate level of private patient hospital cover for the full year, enter 365 into Number of days you do not have to pay the surcharge.
- Otherwise, see Medicare levy surcharge to determine what to enter into Number of days you do not have to pay the surcharge.
At Private health insurance
- Not show any Private health insurance policies.
If you have overseas student or overseas visitor health cover
If you are an overseas visitor, you can purchase Overseas student health cover (OSHC) or Overseas visitors health cover (OVHC) from an Australian-registered health insurer. These are not complying health insurance policies, and you will not be eligible for the private health insurance rebate.
When completing myTax as an overseas visitor with OSHC or OVHC, you should:
At Medicare levy surcharge
- Answer No to the question Were you and all your dependants covered by an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021?
- Indicate the Number of days you do not have to pay the surcharge.
In some instances, myTax may determine for you that you do not have to pay the Medicare levy surcharge.
For more information, see Medicare levy surcharge.
At Private health insurance
- Not show any Private health insurance policies.