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[FAQ] Medical Disability ITR-DD the date of signature or date diagnosed
- 20 January 2023
- Individuals Tax
- The Tax Faculty Tax Specialist
This article is based on tax law for the year ending 28 February 2022.
Background
I am trying to determine whether an ITR-DD can be used retrospectively. My client's wife has a severe disability and is cared for in a nursing home. Upon my advice he acquired a duly signed and completed ITR-DD which is dated in November 2022, but the condition has existed since 2020. I am trying to establish whether we can use the ITR-DD that is dated in this year to claim disability expenses for the 2021 tax year. The disability was present but only confirmed now. I cannot find in any of the SARS correspondence whether this is an issue?
Answer
It happens that a patient will have a condition/ illness and live with that condition/ illness for some time. At some point the patient undergoes a medical process of tests and consultations etc, the end of which could be the diagnosis of a disability. The question is when did the patient become disabled? Technically, it would be the date the specialist confirmed the disability. That date would trigger many events for the patient, including disability claims from insurance. Therefore, a patient could have had a condition/ illness in 2020, but it might only have been confirmed in 2022. This would suggest that before the 2022 date the patient was not deemed medically disabled. On the ITR-DD form the specialist must complete the year and month when the patient first met the criteria. If the specialist determined that this was in a month in 2020 then the dated recorded in the ITR-DD would be the date of disability. As it is the date the patient first met SARS criteria for disability that triggers 6B not the date the specialist signed it. That date could be used for the 2021 tax return even if the ITR-DD was only singed in 2022.