Preventive Health Check-Ups and Income Tax Deductions in India
In this pace-driven era, your lifestyle is swamped with unwholesome habits and sedentary routines. To protect yourself from various deadly diseases, a health insurance policy should be on your bucket list. The best health insurance plans also take care of your healthcare bills during hospitalizations and lessen your financial worry. You just need to pay your health insurance premiums on time so that your policy remains active. The most intriguing thing is that policyholders can enjoy tax deductions of up to Rs. 5000 on preventive health check-ups. According to the income tax law (Section 80D), you are eligible for preventive health check-up tax deductions even if you are not covered by a health insurance policy.
Under Section 80D, you can initiate a claim of Rs. 25,000 on the expenditures of preventive health check-ups tax exemption either for yourself, your spouse or your dependent children. If your parents are less than 60 years, then you can initiate an additional claim of up to Rs. 25,000 for the insurance for your parents. If the parents are above 60 years, the tax exempted amount could be Rs, 50,000, (increased from Rs. 30,000 in Budget 2018). If both you (taxpayer) and your parents are above 60 years, then you will be eligible for a maximum deduction of up to Rs.1 lakh.
What is Preventive Health Check-Up?
Health is something that you can achieve with a nutritious diet, physical activities, adequate sleep and recreation. But sometimes, despite taking all precautions and steps, your health may become ill unexpectedly. A preventive health check-up evaluates and recognizes certain risks at an initial stage.
Many health experts believe that preventive health check-ups are necessary for lessening the financial burden of a family by identifying potential health issues before they become severe and require expensive healthcare treatments. Therefore, preventive health check-up 80D is the key to leading a healthy life.
Preventive health check-ups are required for people who are above 40 years. This is the time when your chances of getting various health conditions are high. If you have a family history of certain diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer, then you should opt for preventive health check-ups.
Many health insurance companies embrace their customers with complimentary preventive health check-ups during the time of renewal of the policy. But if your insurance company is not willing to provide this kind of offer, then you may purchase a preventive healthcare plan at an affordable premium. Some preventive healthcare packages that are available in the market are,
- Family package
- Package for children
- Cancer package
- Cardiac package
- Dental package
- Diabetes package
What are the benefits of preventive health check-ups?
Preventive health check-up packages offer an array of benefits to policyholders. Before purchasing this kind of package, you should have adequate knowledge of its features.
- Valued and trustworthy health education
- Valuation of your chances of getting diseases
- Early detection of a life-threatening disease
- You may receive early treatment methods and sometimes cure for your diseases
- If you monitor your health conditions by preventive health check-ups, then it will reduce your chances of complications
- If you change your lifestyle as the result of your preventive health check-ups, your longevity will improve
- You may not need to go for costly emergency treatments
- You can solely focus on your health care
- Stay updated on the least medical information and technologies
Preventive health check-ups encourage a person to screen for various diseases. For example, retinopathy and foot ulcers are common complications for people who are having diabetes. By doing annual eye and foot examinations, you can prevent vision loss and lower-limb amputations. Similarly, people who are having cardiovascular diseases should try to control blood pressure and blood cholesterol to minimize the risks of heart attack and stroke.
Preventive health check-ups are also useful in scrutinizing cancer. Initially, many cancers are symptomless and can’t get diagnosed. But if people go for regular health check-ups, then they can prevent those cancers from escalating.
Who can claim 80D preventive health check-up deductions?
Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, a person can claim preventive check-up deductions up to Rs. 5000 per financial year. You can also enjoy the benefits of tax deductions on the premium amount that you have paid for preventive health check-ups for your spouse, children and parents.
What is the preventive health check-up 80 D limit?
Under Section 80D of the income tax act, you can claim a maximum of Rs. 5000 for preventive check-ups in a financial year. You are also eligible for claiming the benefits for your spouse, children and parents. So, if you spent Rs. 10,000 for preventive check-ups for you and your family, then you can claim up to Rs. 5000 at the time of filing IT returns. You can claim this deduction even if you have paid the bills through cash. To enjoy cash benefits, health insurance policies encourage policyholders to pay premiums through organized banking channels.
Another prime thing you must remember is that you can avail a maximum tax deduction of up to Rs. 25000/50000 jointly on your health insurance premium and preventive health check-up bills.
For example, you are a 40-year-old person and you are eligible to claim a maximum tax deduction of Rs. 25000. Now, you paid a premium of Rs. 22000 against your health insurance policy and spent Rs. 6000 on preventive health check-ups in the same financial year. Now, according to the 80 D Income Tax Act, you can claim a tax deduction up to Rs. 25000, hence the tax deductions for preventive health check-ups will be Rs. 3000 (25000-22000 = 3000).
Conclusion
Preventive health check-ups are beneficial in detecting your diseases at the initial stages. This will help you to opt for various treatment methods at the beginning so that you can combat your illness. Early detection is the prime benefit of preventive health check-ups. But at the same time, preventive health check-up income tax benefit makes it more intriguing among policyholders. To strengthen your health portfolio, always opt for preventive health check-up packages.
