Medicare Levy Exemption & Surcharge
ALITAX · Bilal Jivraj — Registered Tax Agent 25287564. Original guidance from 10+ years of DASP and tax casework.
The Medicare levy is an extra 2% of taxable income that most Australian residents pay to help fund the public health system. There is also a Medicare levy surcharge for higher earners without private hospital cover. But many temporary visa holders are not entitled to Medicare — and if you are not entitled, you should not be paying for it.
Claiming the exemption
If you were not entitled to Medicare benefits for all or part of the year, you may be able to claim a full or partial exemption from the Medicare levy and the surcharge. On a normal income this can add a meaningful amount back to your refund.
The Medicare Entitlement Statement
To claim the exemption, you generally need a Medicare Entitlement Statement (MES) from Services Australia, confirming the period you were not entitled to Medicare. At ALITAX, we help you request this and apply the exemption correctly on your return.
Protection visa holders
Note the exception: if you held a protection visa, you are generally not eligible for the Medicare levy exemption (protection visa holders typically have Medicare access). You can, however, still claim your super (DASP) and your tax return as normal.
Getting the form & more info
The Medicare Entitlement Statement application is form MS015, available here: servicesaustralia.gov.au/ms015. Supporting documents must be clear, in PDF/JPG/PNG/GIF/BMP, not password-protected, under 5MB each. A helpful explainer video: watch on YouTube. We prepare and lodge this for you as part of your return.
Who this commonly applies to
Sponsored workers (482/457), some student and graduate visa holders, and other temporary residents from countries without a reciprocal health care agreement often qualify. At ALITAX, we check your specific situation.
🎥 Spoken version — video script (about 60 seconds)
Read straight to camera. Pause at each line break.
This is the single most missed refund I see. And it is worth real money.
When you work in Australia, you pay a Medicare levy. It is about two percent of your income, and it funds the public health system.
But here is the thing. If you were on a temporary visa and you were not entitled to full Medicare cover, you may not have had to pay it at all.
Most people pay it anyway, because it comes out automatically. And most people never claim it back.
On fifty thousand dollars, that is roughly a thousand dollars. Every year you worked.
To claim it, you need a Medicare Entitlement Statement — a document from Services Australia confirming you were not covered. Then it goes on your tax return.
Now, this depends on your country. Australia has reciprocal health agreements with about eleven countries, and if you are from one of those, the rules are different and you may not be eligible.
That is exactly the kind of detail that costs people money when they guess.
At ALITAX we check this on every single file — including old returns. If you missed it in previous years, we can often go back and amend.
[End — on-screen: alitax.com.au/dasp · WhatsApp +61 422 665 268 · Registered Tax Agent 25287564]