Hi,
I became a PR last year and i recently apply for a tax return. I got charged 2% of my total pay for medicare levy.
I am single/26.
Can someone please let me know if that is normal?
Became Permanent Residence Last Year, and Paid Medicare Levy in Tax Return, Is It Normal?
noHup on 04/09/2018 - 21:32
Comments
You can double check here: https://www.ato.gov.au/Calculators-and-tools/Medicare-levy/ but basically taxpayers who earn over $26,668/year pay a Medicare Levy of 2% of their taxable income.
From memory you need to apply for a Medicare levi exemption certificate (in your case it would be a partial exemption of number of days out of the 365 days).
But yes, it is normal to pay for Medicare levi from the day you’re eligible for Medicare.P/s: Eg. if you became eligible for Medicare from 1st Jan 2018 (ie got your residency that day) then you only pay levi for 182 days.
I second that. It's important to note that you become eligible for Medicare when you lodged the application for PR not when your PR was granted.
For example, you lodged the application on 1 Jan 2018 but PR was granted on 29 Jun 2018. Then the days of Medicare levy exemption will be 182 days not 364 days.
BUT free healthcare only starts once PR is granted right?
So how come we start paying levy even before that?
Well, welcome to Australia.
as soon as you have submitted your pr application, you can apply for medicare. you will get a blue medicare card. when your pr is granted, medicare will be notified and will send you a green medicare card. free healthcare starts from the day you submitted your application. don't take me on that though. just speaking from my personal experience. i used blue medicare at the clinics and it didn't cost me anything.
no you are eligible to use Medicare once you apply for pr/ get the temp card
Death and Tax ……. :)
And prime ministerial coups
You know it is going to be a bad day when the sign that used to count the days since the last workplace accident is replaced by the days since the last PM.
Yeah I use the Prime Ministership to let me know when to get the car serviced. At least once per Prime Minister.
Yes, welcome to oz
You have been charged correctly.
Just as well nobody asked you
Just had a thought… You might have been thinking that you wouldn't get charged because of yr age? There's the medicate levy which you pay over a certain income and then there's the… Can't remember the name for it… Let's call it Medicare plus plus levy which you pay if you don't have private health insurance and are over a certain age and income.
Some argue if you pay for private you shouldn't have to pay for public; others make the case that private is subsidised by govt as well.
That is for a whole different thread/ozbargain bikie session but it might have been what you were thinking about? I remember the first time I saw it on my tax and thought, wait, I paid for this with private health. But it's a different thing.
yes, you need to pay levy from day 1 you have medicare.