This year, doing your tax may look a little different, and by now you would have heard that we will not be sending out a copy of your Private Health Insurance Tax Statement.

Your Private Health Tax Statement will be automatically lodged with the ATO.

The good news is that you no longer require a hard copy of your Tax Statement; we lodge the details required for taxation purposes directly with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Your private health insurance details will pre-populate in your online MyTax portal so you (or your accountant) will be able to complete your Tax Return online sooner.

If for some reason you need to access a copy of your Private Health Insurance Statement, these will be available via Online Member Services (OMS) for you to download early July.

Register or Login to OMS

Understanding your Private Health Insurance Statement

If you have downloaded a copy of your Tax Statement through OMS, and you have some questions about what the information means, we have put together some handy hints and commonly asked questions to help.

What do all the codes on my Tax Statement mean?

The labels on the statement match those on your tax return.

The main parts of the statement are explained below.

A – Hospital days covered: the number of days that an appropriate level of private hospital cover was held in the financial year

B – Fund identifier: three letter identifier is unique to each fund. PWA stands for Phoenix Welfare Association

C – Membership Number

J – Premiums paid: this is each adult’s share of the premiums paid in this financial year that are eligible for the Government Rebate. If there is more than one adult on the policy, the amount will be split over the two statements.
If there is a Lifetime Health Cover Loading applied to the policy, the loading paid is not included in this amount.

K – Rebate paid: this is each adult’s share of the rebate paid by Medicare directly to Phoenix Health (and received as a reduction in member premiums) in the current financial year.
If there is more than one adult on the policy, the amount will be split over the two statements.

L – Benefit Codes: the benefit code indicates the (maximum) Rebate percentage that applied at the time the payments were received.
The code listed is not a percentage and does not indicate what Rebate Tier you have elected to be on.

If you made payments prior to 1 April and on or after 1 April, at least two different benefit codes will appear in separate lines on your table.

Benefit codes for premium amounts received prior to 1 April are:

  • 30 (the entitling person is under 65 years)
  • 35 (the entitling person is 65 years or older but under 70 years)
  • 40 (the entitling person is 70 years or older

Benefit codes for premium amounts received on or after 1 April are:

  • 31 (the entitling person is under 65 years)
  • 36 (the entitling person is 65 years or older but under 70 years)
  • 41 (the entitling person is 70 years or older)

Other adult beneficiaries for the policy – Indicates the name of any other adult (ie partner or spouse) covered by the policy when the relevant premiums were received.

M2 – Medicare Levy Surcharge – the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) is an additional levy paid by Australian tax payers who don’t have an appropriate level of private hospital cover and earn above Government stipulated thresholds. You can find out more about the MLS, including the income thresholds and levy amounts here.

Here’s an example of what the Private Health Insurance Statement looks like this year:

Tax Information 2020

Source: ato.gov.au website

Why aren’t Tax Statements being posted anymore?

The Government made some rule changes in 2019, and health funds are now required to report your private health tax information directly to the ATO. As such there is no need for this information to be posted to you, as it has been in previous years.

My partner used to receive their own statement, what happens now?

Any other adult listed on your membership (as partner or spouse) will have their individual tax information sent directly to the ATO, and will be available to them when they complete their online tax return.

My child is a high income earner and requires a statement showing they held hospital cover for the last financial year.

Tax Statements are only produced and reported to the ATO for the policy holder and their partner/ spouse. If you have a child dependant listed on your membership, who earns over the Medicare Levy income thresholds and as such needs to declare that they have held an appropriate level of private health insurance for the financial year, they will need to:

  • Use their parents Private Health Tax Statement and enter their details into the tax return form; and
  • Claim tax code F, so the ATO is aware that they were covered for private health insurance, but as a dependant on family cover.

Can I access my Tax statement online?

Yes! If you do need to access a copy of your Tax Statement, you can download one through Online Member Services (OMS).

You can also view and update your membership details, including how you receive your membership communications through OMS. Log in or Register for Online Member Services now using your Membership number.

Register or Login to OMS

I have more questions about my Tax Statement

As we are not tax specialists, your tax agent or the Australian Tax Office will be able to provide you with further information about meeting your tax return obligations.

You can contact the ATO on 13 28 61 or visit ato.gov.au/Medicare-levy/

We’re here to help

As always, if you have any questions about your Phoenix Health membership, reach out to the Phoenix Health Team, we’re happy to help.

This information is current as at 14 June 2021.