Salaries tax deduction for elderly residential care home fees.
Estimated tax saving
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Deductible amount
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Fees above cap
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Your breakdown
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The choice you have to make: deduction or allowance
This is the part of the rule that trips families up every year. For any one parent or grandparent in residential care, the Inland Revenue Department lets you claim either the residential care expenses deduction or the dependent parent and grandparent allowance, but never both for the same person in the same year. They are mutually exclusive on purpose. So before you reach for this deduction, the real question is which of the two leaves you better off, and that depends on how much you actually paid in care home fees.
The deduction works by reducing the income the IRD taxes you on. Care home fees you pay for a qualifying elderly relative come off your assessable income, up to a yearly ceiling, and your saving is that deductible figure multiplied by the rate your top dollars sit in. The allowance, by contrast, is a fixed sum regardless of how much care actually cost. Heavy fees usually favour the deduction; modest or no fees favour the allowance.
Who and what qualifies
The relief is for a parent or grandparent of yours or your spouse, ordinarily resident in Hong Kong, who is admitted to a residential care home that is registered or licensed. The fees must be paid by you or your spouse to that home. There is an age condition the IRD sets, and the home must be a genuine care home rather than ordinary rented accommodation. The cap this calculator applies is $100,000 per elderly person each year, and it is per person, so fees for two parents in care are each measured against their own ceiling. Treat the $100,000 figure as the tool's assumption and confirm the current cap with the IRD, since care-related reliefs are reviewed from time to time.
Working a $120,000 care bill at the top band
Suppose you paid $120,000 in care home fees for one parent over the year and your income puts you in the 17 percent band. The fees run past the ceiling, so $20,000 of what you spent earns no relief at all. The deductible amount is held at the cap, and the saving is that capped figure at the rate the calculator applies.
Now compare that against simply taking the dependent parent allowance instead. If the allowance for an elderly parent were worth a fixed deduction far smaller than $100,000, the $17,000 saving here would clearly beat it, which is why families paying real care fees almost always pick the deduction. The chart shows the $120,000 spend split between the part that reduces your tax and the part that does not.
Things families get wrong
My sibling and I split Mum's care fees. Can we both claim?
The cap is per elderly person, not per child, so the total deduction across all of you for that one parent cannot exceed the ceiling the tool applies. You and your sibling would need to agree who claims, or split the deductible amount between you, but the combined claim is still measured against the single per-person cap. Only the person who actually paid the fees can claim their portion, so keep clear records of who paid what.
Does ordinary rent for an elderly parent count?
No. This relief is specifically for fees paid to a registered or licensed residential care home, not rent for a flat where a parent lives independently. If you simply house a parent, the dependent parent and grandparent allowance is the relevant relief instead, and it does not require any care home at all. Mixing the two up is the most common reason a claim is queried.
What documents should I keep?
Hold on to the care home's official fee receipts showing the resident's name, the amount, and the period covered, plus proof that you or your spouse paid them. The IRD can ask you to substantiate the claim after assessment, and a deduction this size is worth being able to defend. Receipts in a relative's name that you did not pay will not support your claim.