Every year, Irish taxpayers spend thousands on medical expenses that qualify for tax relief, yet a significant proportion never bother to submit a claim. Revenue allows you to claim tax relief at 20% on a wide range of health-related costs for yourself, your spouse, your children, and other dependants. The relief is not means-tested and there is no upper limit on the amount you can claim. Whether you have spent €200 on GP visits or €20,000 on dental work, the relief is available and easy to claim through Revenue's myAccount system.
What Expenses Qualify?
The range of qualifying medical expenses is broader than most people realise. You can claim tax relief on:
- Doctor and consultant fees (GP visits, specialist consultations)
- Prescribed drugs and medicines (non-prescribed over-the-counter medications do not qualify)
- Hospital charges (including outpatient charges)
- Dental expenses (extractions, crowns, root canals, orthodontics – but not routine cleaning or cosmetic treatments)
- Physiotherapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy
- Psychological and psychiatric treatment
- Eye tests and prescription glasses or contact lenses (but not laser eye surgery unless medically necessary)
- Fertility treatment (IVF, IUI)
- Nursing home fees
- Home nursing care
- Kidney dialysis
- Special dietary requirements for conditions such as coeliac disease or phenylketonuria
The key condition is that the treatment must be carried out or prescribed by a registered medical practitioner. Alternative therapies, most cosmetic procedures, and non-prescribed supplements do not qualify.
How Much Can You Save?
Medical expenses tax relief is granted at the standard rate of 20%, regardless of whether you are a standard-rate or higher-rate taxpayer. This means for every €100 of qualifying medical expenses, you receive €20 back in tax relief.
Here are some examples of the potential savings:
- €500 in GP visits: €100 tax relief
- €2,000 in dental work: €400 tax relief
- €5,000 in fertility treatment: €1,000 tax relief
- €15,000 in nursing home fees: €3,000 tax relief
There is no upper limit on the amount of qualifying expenses you can claim, although the relief can only reduce your tax liability to zero – you cannot receive a refund in excess of the tax you have paid. For most working taxpayers, this is not an issue as their tax liability will be more than sufficient to absorb the relief.
Use our medical expenses calculator to work out your potential tax saving, and our salary calculator to understand your overall tax position.
Claiming for Your Family
You can claim medical expenses tax relief not only for yourself but also for expenses you have paid on behalf of:
- Your spouse or civil partner
- Your children
- Any other relative (including parents, siblings, grandchildren) or any person you are a legal guardian of
The important point is that you must have actually paid the expenses. If your adult child pays their own medical bills, you cannot claim relief on them even though they are your child. But if you pay for your elderly parent's nursing home fees, you can claim the relief.
Health Insurance and Medical Expenses
If you have private health insurance, you may already receive tax relief at source on your insurance premium. This is the Tax Relief at Source (TRS) system, where the insurance company reduces your premium by the amount of the tax relief. For 2026, the relief is 20% of the premium, up to a maximum premium of €1,000 for adults and €500 for children.
For medical expenses not covered by your insurance, you claim separately through myAccount. If your insurer partially reimburses you for a procedure, you can only claim tax relief on the net amount you paid out of pocket – not the full cost.
How to Claim
Claiming is straightforward through Revenue's myAccount system:
- Log in to myAccount on Revenue.ie
- Go to Review your tax for the relevant year
- Select Health expenses
- Enter the details of your expenses (you do not need to submit receipts with the claim, but you must keep them for six years in case of a Revenue audit)
- Submit the claim
You can claim for the current tax year or for previous years going back up to four years. If you have not claimed for 2022, 2023, 2024, or 2025, submit those claims now – you are entitled to the relief and it only takes a few minutes per year.
Revenue may process the relief as a direct refund (if you have overpaid tax) or by adjusting your tax credits for the current year (which increases your net pay going forward). Either way, the money ends up in your pocket. Our tax credits calculator shows you how credits affect your take-home pay, and our reverse tax calculator can help you understand the breakdown of your deductions.