Tax certificate FAQs

On your tax certificate, we give you the necessary information to complete your tax return

• The line showing the amount for your contributions shows medical Society contributions for this tax period only. Any backdated changes that apply to this tax period, but which were made after this certificate was created, will be shown on the tax certificate for the next tax period. If you get an IRP5 from your employer, you should rather refer to the contribution amount on your IRP5 when filling in your tax return. If you are a pensioner receiving post-retirement benefits, the IT3 (a) will show this.
• "Claims not recovered from BEMAS" refers to claims your plan did not cover, for example, where claims were more than the benefit limit. We have included claims processed up to 28 February 2023.
• A breakdown showing the total number of active members - main member and active dependants - each month (you have to list these on your tax return).

The tax certificate shows only the portion of your monthly contributions for which you can get a tax deduction. We consider only the portion of your monthly contribution paid to BEMAS (including your Medical Savings Account, if applicable). Your monthly Vitality for example, is not tax deductible.

"Claims not recovered from the Society" shows claims BEMAS did not pay, including any part of a claim not paid. These would be the sum of all processed in-hospital and out-of-hospital claims we did not pay, due to, for example, your funds being used up or your claims being more than your benefit limits.

The portion of your medical Society contributions you can get a tax benefit on is calculated on a monthly maximum rand amount (a "capped amount") that is based on the number of people on your membership.

Visit the SARS website, www.sars.gov.za or contact your tax adviser for more information.

We consider claims processed (or changes to how the claim was processed) after 28 February 2023 for the next year's tax certificate. BEMAS reports the tax data at 28 February 2023 to SARS and cannot issue manual tax certificates.

Your tax certificate should be printed with an 'authorised copy' watermark. If it doesn't, change your printer settings to print background colours and graphics.