Does being blind in one eye constitutes being classified as disabled?
Important:
This answer is based on tax law for the tax year ending 28 February 2020.
Answer:
Remember that section 18 was deleted from the Act and the matter is now dealt with under section 6B of the Income Tax Act. The principles are, apart from the fact that the one allowed for a deduction and the other (the latter), for a rebate, much the same.
Section 6B(1) of the Act refers to “any expenditure that is prescribed by the Commissioner (other than expenditure recoverable by a person or his or her spouse) necessarily incurred and paid by the person during the year of assessment in consequence of any physical impairment or disability suffered by the person or any dependant of the person.”
According to the same section, a “disability” means a moderate to severe limitation of any person’s ability to function or perform daily activities as a result of a physical, sensory, communication, intellectual or mental impairment, if the limitation—
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has lasted or has a prognosis of lasting more than a year; and
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is diagnosed by a duly registered medical practitioner in accordance with criteria prescribed by the Commissioner.
The SARS guide explains that a person who wishes to claim a medical credit for disability expenses must complete a Confirmation of Diagnosis of Disability form (ITR-DD), which is available on the SARS website (www.sars.gov.za). The ITR-DD needs to be completed and endorsed by a duly registered medical practitioner every five years, if the disability is of a more permanent nature. However, if the disability is temporary, the ITR-DD will only be valid for one year, which effectively means that a new ITR-DD must be completed for each year of assessment during which a disability claim is made.
A duly registered medical practitioner is a person who is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and is specially trained to deal with the applicable disability.
The SARS guide, in paragraph 9.3.1, deals with “Vision” and states the following:
“The minimum requirement for a person to be classified as a blind person is –
• visual acuity in the better eye with best possible correction*, less than 6/18 (0.3)**; and
• visual field, 10 degrees or less around central fixation.
* “Best possible correction” refers to the position after a person’s vision has been corrected by means of spectacles, contact lenses or intraocular (implanted) lenses.
** “6/18” means that, what a person with normal vision can read at 18 metres, the person being tested can only read at 6 metres.”