I am planning a three month trip to Europe this year. I intend to suspend my full cover health insurance for the period I am away. Will this affect my Medicare Levy Surcharge. Will it affect anything else? Thank you in advance.
Hi @SteveRM,
Good idea to double check with us first! When you submit your tax return for the year you'll need to let us know how many days during the year you had an appropriate level of private health coverage. When you cancel your coverage for a period to go overseas you may as a result not be covered for the entire year. This can then result in needing to pay the Medicare levy surcharge. Although you're overseas for the period, you may still be considered an Australian tax resident. Due to this you'd still be required to maintain the appropriate level of private health coverage during the year to avoid the surcharge.
We recommend contacting your health fund to determine how much you'll save by cancelling your coverage for the period. You can then compare this to the MLS amount you'd owe for the year if you were to cancel it and then determine which option is best for you. You can use our income tax estimator to help calculate the MLS amount. You can also read more about travelling overseas and the MLS on our website.
Hi @SteveRM,
Good idea to double check with us first! When you submit your tax return for the year you'll need to let us know how many days during the year you had an appropriate level of private health coverage. When you cancel your coverage for a period to go overseas you may as a result not be covered for the entire year. This can then result in needing to pay the Medicare levy surcharge. Although you're overseas for the period, you may still be considered an Australian tax resident. Due to this you'd still be required to maintain the appropriate level of private health coverage during the year to avoid the surcharge.
We recommend contacting your health fund to determine how much you'll save by cancelling your coverage for the period. You can then compare this to the MLS amount you'd owe for the year if you were to cancel it and then determine which option is best for you. You can use our income tax estimator to help calculate the MLS amount. You can also read more about travelling overseas and the MLS on our website.
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