Keeping medical receipts

[Gareth]

Has anyone found any need at all to keep medical receipts if the total amount for the year is less than 100,000 yen or am I safe to bin 2020’s lot?

[mule96]

That is also my understanding. Also for expenses that were covered by health insurace, it would be ok to just use the monthly/yearly summary slip you get from them in the case you can go for a deduction.

[Gareth]

I’ve never received a yearly slip from the dentist, the doctor or the pharmacy. Should I be getting them? Is it automatic or do I have to ask for them?

[mule96]

You should (can?) get it from the kenkohoken-provider (not sure if it is the same for kokumin-hoken). My wife gets it monthly and I get it yearly - we never applied for something, so I thought that is automatic, but I may be wrong on that.

[RetireJapan]

I get an itemised list from my kyosai once a year for my medical expenses, and as the setainushi (head of household) also get a list from kokumin kenko hoken of all family members. This alwasy struck me as horribly intrusive, as I would get all the information for my adult children until they moved out, as well as my wife.

I didn't know you could use that for the income tax deduction though

[Gareth]

I've just realized that I did get a summary statement back in November but I completely forgot about it. It's the first time I've ever received one though.

It covers November 2019 until June 2020, with one total for all those 8 months and another total for just the 2020 months. It says I will get another summary statement covering July 2020 until October 2020 (but haven't received this yet). It says these documents are enough for tax filing but as it only covers up until October, it also says that you will need to include receipts for medical expenses incurred in November and December.

So it seems you don't need to keep medical receipts for January to October once you've checked they are on your statement, but keep the ones from November and December for tax filing if you go over the 100,000 yen mark. Simple!!!

[mule96]

The usage of summary slips from the provider is allowed recently (Since 2017). Note: There are also medical expenses that are not covered by NHI but can be deducted!

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

The usage of summary slips from the provider is allowed recently (Since 2017). Note: There are also medical and expenses that are not covered by NHI but can be deducted!

That is very true but some things you have to be careful with things like glasses, whether they are deductible or not. My accountant wasn't going into quite medical terms about what my wife's new pair of glasses were for, and to be honest I really was not sure what she was talking about, but we just decided to put them in. Kid's braces are deductible and not covered by NHI, my son just has some moulded and believe me that was a big deduction.

[kuma]

My experience is that sometimes the summary sheet(s) comes AFTER the window to file taxes opens. Last year's came before the window closed, but not by much. For 2020, I've got 1 out of 3 so far (family was on kokumin kenko hoken, then on Shigaku Kyosai from my employement, and then my wife got a job with her own insurance coverage). Hoping they come soon as this year's medical expenses are messy what with chopping and changing between different insurers.

[kuma]

My experience is that sometimes the summary sheet(s) comes AFTER the window to file taxes opens. Last year's came before the window closed, but not by much. For 2020, I've got 1 out of 3 so far (family was on kokumin kenko hoken, then on Shigaku Kyosai from my employement, and then my wife got a job with her own insurance coverage). Hoping they come soon as this year's medical expenses are messy what with chopping and changing between different insurers.

The second of the three summary slips arrived yesterday (24th Feb). It doesn't cover the complete financial year, so there are a couple of months when I need to submit receipts in any case. Are you obligated to submit the exact figure of medical expenses on your tax return, or can you just leave blank (for example, if you are sure you are below the threshold, and it is burdensome to calculate lots of tiny medical expenses which won't result in a deduction)?