Revenue-compliant guidance — Based on Revenue Tax and Duty Manual Part 15-01-12, s.12 (s.469 TCA 1997). Updated for 2025.
Families with a seriously ill child can claim enhanced tax relief under section 12 of Revenue’s Tax and Duty Manual Part 15-01-12. Qualifying expenses include travel to hospital (unlimited journeys), a €370 flat rate telephone allowance, accommodation near the hospital, and up to €500 per year for hygiene products and special clothing required because of the illness. The claimant is the parent or guardian who paid the expenses.
What This Page Covers
- Which conditions qualify under s.12 (oncology, life-threatening illness, permanent disability)
- Travel expenses: unlimited qualifying journeys, mileage rates, and public transport
- The €370 annual telephone flat rate — no phone bills needed
- Accommodation near the hospital: what types qualify and what records to keep
- Hygiene products and special clothing: what qualifies and the €500 annual cap
- Combining all four reliefs in a single annual claim; backdating prior years
Key Facts at a Glance
- ✓Qualifying conditions: cancer (oncology), life-threatening illness, permanent disability.
- ✓Travel: unlimited journeys to hospital, claimed at civil service mileage rate (car) or ticket cost (public transport).
- ✓€370 annual flat rate for telephone expenses — no phone receipts required.
- ✓Accommodation: hotel, B&B, or rented accommodation near hospital qualifies with receipts.
- ✓Hygiene products and special clothing: up to €500 per year, receipts required.
- ✓All four categories are combined in a single Health Expenses entry in myAccount.
Which conditions qualify under section 12
Section 12 of Revenue’s Tax and Duty Manual Part 15-01-12 establishes enhanced qualifying health expenses for families caring for a child with a serious illness. The qualifying conditions are:
- Cancer and oncological conditions: Any child receiving oncological treatment — chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgical oncology, targeted therapy, immunotherapy — falls within the s.12 qualifying criteria. This includes haematological cancers such as leukaemia and lymphoma as well as solid tumour cancers.
- Life-threatening illness: Conditions that are clinically life-threatening and require ongoing specialist hospital care qualify. This is a broad category that encompasses serious cardiac conditions, end-stage renal disease, severe respiratory conditions requiring specialist management, and other conditions where the prognosis is serious and hospital attendance is frequent and ongoing.
- Permanent disability: Where a child has a permanent physical or cognitive disability that requires ongoing specialist medical management and regular hospital or clinic attendance, the s.12 enhanced expenses qualify.
The key requirement is that the child is under the active care of a hospital specialist or paediatric consultant for the qualifying condition. Day visits to a community GP for a chronic but non-specialist condition would not typically fall within s.12. The s.12 provision is aimed at the families of children who must make repeated visits to specialist hospital or clinic settings as part of ongoing treatment for a serious condition.
Travel expenses: unlimited journeys
One of the most significant s.12 reliefs is that there is no cap on the number of qualifying travel journeys claimed. This is important for families where a child is undergoing intensive treatment — chemotherapy or dialysis, for example — that may require hospital visits three to five times per week over extended periods. Every qualifying return journey from home to hospital and back qualifies as a health expense.
Claiming by private car
Where a parent drives to the hospital, the qualifying mileage is claimed at the civil service motor travel rates. These rates are set by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and reflect the cost of using a private vehicle for work-related travel. The rate applicable to s.12 health expense travel is the standard civil service motor travel rate per kilometre. Keep a log of journeys — the date, destination, and round-trip mileage — throughout the year. At year-end, multiply the total kilometres by the applicable rate to calculate the qualifying travel amount.
Claiming for public transport
Where a parent travels by bus, train, or taxi to attend at the hospital with a seriously ill child, the actual ticket or fare cost qualifies. Retain tickets and receipts for each journey. Where exact receipts are not available for all journeys — for example, where bus journeys are paid by cash — a reasonable estimate of the number of journeys and the typical fare, supported by whatever receipts are available, is the best available approach.
The €370 annual telephone flat rate
Section 12 provides a flat rate qualifying health expense of €370 per year for telephone expenses incurred in connection with managing a seriously ill child’s care. This covers telephone calls to the hospital, specialist nurse contacts, coordinating with other treating consultants, calls to the pharmacy, and the general communication burden that comes with managing complex medical care.
No itemised phone bills are required to claim the €370. The flat rate is entered as a qualifying health expense in myAccount for each relevant year. The only supporting documentation required is the evidence of the qualifying serious illness — the hospital consultant letter or outpatient appointment letters that confirm the child’s condition and treatment. These are retained for six years.
Accommodation expenses near the hospital
Where it is necessary for a parent or guardian to stay overnight near the hospital during periods of intensive treatment — for example, during an admission cycle, during a multi-day treatment programme, or when travelling from a significant distance — the accommodation cost qualifies as a health expense. Qualifying accommodation types include:
- Hotels and B&Bs near the hospital: Reasonable nightly rates for commercially-booked accommodation qualify. Retain hotel invoices or B&B receipts showing dates, the parent’s name, and the nightly rate.
- Guesthouses and self-catering apartments: Qualifying equally where the stay is directly connected with attending the hospital for the child’s treatment.
- Ronald McDonald House and similar charity accommodation: Where a family stays in a charity-operated facility associated with a hospital and pays a contribution, the contribution paid qualifies. Where the accommodation is provided entirely free of charge, no qualifying expense exists.
Accommodation expenses should be evidenced by receipts clearly showing the dates, location, and amount paid. The connection between the accommodation and hospital attendance should be readily apparent — accommodation in a hotel directly adjacent to a major children’s hospital during a child’s treatment cycle is self-evidently qualifying.
Hygiene products and special clothing: the €500 cap
Section 12 provides for qualifying purchases of hygiene products and special clothing required specifically because of the child’s serious illness, up to a maximum of €500 per year. Items that qualify in this category include:
- Specialist skincare products for chemotherapy patients: Children undergoing chemotherapy commonly experience severe skin sensitivity requiring specific hypoallergenic or medically-recommended skincare products that are significantly more expensive than standard products.
- Protective clothing for immunocompromised children: Children undergoing chemotherapy or with severely compromised immune systems may require specific protective garments or high-grade UV-protective clothing on medical advice.
- Incontinence products: Where a child’s serious illness or disability results in incontinence requiring specialised hygiene products beyond what a healthy child of the same age would need.
- Post-surgical garments: Compression garments, post-operative support garments, or specially adapted clothing required following surgery related to the qualifying illness.
Retain receipts for all qualifying hygiene and clothing purchases. The total qualifying amount is capped at €500 per year across all such purchases, regardless of actual expenditure. Enter the actual expenditure up to the €500 cap as a qualifying health expense in myAccount.
Combining all four reliefs in a single annual claim
A parent managing a child’s serious illness may accumulate qualifying expenses across all four s.12 categories in a given year. At year-end, total the qualifying amounts from each category:
- Travel (car mileage calculation or public transport receipts)
- Telephone (€370 flat rate)
- Accommodation (receipts total)
- Hygiene and special clothing (receipts total, capped at €500)
Add these to any other standard qualifying health expenses for the same year — GP visits, prescription costs, consultant fees, hospital charges — and enter the combined total under Health Expenses in myAccount. All four s.12 categories combine into the same Health Expenses total as standard health expenses.
When the child reaches 18 or moves to adult services
Section 12 applies to expenses incurred in connection with the child’s care. Where a young person has a serious illness or permanent disability and moves to adult specialist services as they turn 18 or transition to adult healthcare settings, the associated qualifying expenses continue under the standard s.469 health expense provisions — travel to specialist appointments, accommodation, prescribed medicines, and other qualifying costs remain claimable. The s.12 specific provisions are framed in terms of a child patient, but the qualifying costs for an adult patient with the same conditions are captured by the general s.469 health expense framework.
Not sure what you’re owed? Get a free review — no fee unless we recover.
Check My Entitlement →Scenarios
Scenario: Parent of a child undergoing chemotherapy, combining all four reliefs
A family in Cork with a child receiving chemotherapy at a Dublin children’s hospital makes 80 return trips to Dublin during the year (avg 520km round trip). Travel: 80 × 520km = 41,600km at the civil service rate (€0.43) = €17,888 qualifying travel. Telephone: €370 flat rate. Accommodation (4 multi-day stays of 3 nights at €120/night): €1,440. Hygiene products (specialist skincare): €480 (capped at €500). Total qualifying from s.12 categories: €20,178. At 20%: €4,036 refund from s.12 expenses alone.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- ✗Not keeping a mileage log for hospital journeys — without a log, the travel qualifying amount cannot be properly calculated and may be challenged.
- ✗Forgetting the €370 telephone flat rate — it is claimable every year without phone receipts and is routinely missed.
- ✗Not claiming accommodation receipts — hotel and B&B stays near the hospital are qualifying and the amounts often accumulate to a significant total over a year.
- ✗Claiming more than €500 for hygiene and clothing — the cap is €500 per year regardless of actual expenditure.
When This Relief Does Not Apply
Key Takeaways
- ➤Four categories of qualifying expenses under s.12: travel, telephone (€370 flat rate), accommodation, and hygiene/clothing (capped €500).
- ➤No cap on travel journeys — every qualifying hospital trip counts.
- ➤Keep a mileage log and accommodation receipts throughout the year; add the €370 telephone flat rate at year-end automatically.
Frequently Asked Questions
What conditions qualify for the children's serious illness tax relief?
Under section 12 of Revenue's Tax and Duty Manual Part 15-01-12, qualifying conditions include cancer (oncology), life-threatening illness, and permanent disability. The child must be under the care of a specialist for the qualifying condition and the expenses must be incurred in connection with that treatment or condition.
Is there a flat rate for the telephone expenses?
Yes. Section 12 provides a flat rate of €370 per year for telephone expenses associated with a child's serious illness. No itemised telephone bills are required — just confirmation that the qualifying condition exists. The €370 is claimed as a qualifying health expense in the relevant year.
What travel expenses can I claim?
Where a parent or guardian travels to attend at a hospital or specialist centre with a seriously ill child, the travel costs qualify as health expenses. There is no cap on the number of qualifying journeys. Private car mileage is claimed at the civil service motor travel rates; public transport costs are claimed at the actual ticket cost.
Does accommodation near the hospital qualify?
Yes. Where it is necessary for a parent to stay near the hospital — in a hotel, B&B, guesthouse, or rented accommodation — during periods of intensive treatment for a seriously ill child, reasonable accommodation costs qualify as a health expense. Receipts for accommodation are required.
What is the €500 cap on hygiene products and special clothing?
Section 12 provides for a maximum of €500 per year for hygiene products and special clothing required specifically because of the child's serious illness — for example, specialised skincare for a child undergoing chemotherapy, or protective clothing for a child with a compromised immune system. Receipts for these purchases are required. The €500 is a maximum qualifying amount per year.
Who makes the claim — both parents or just one?
The parent or guardian who personally paid the qualifying expenses makes the claim. Where both parents contributed to different categories of expense, each claims only what they personally paid. The same marginal rate rules apply — each parent enters their qualifying costs in their own myAccount Health Expenses for the relevant year.