Medicare entitlement statement requests now online
A Medicare Entitlement Statement (MES) tells you the period during a financial year that you weren’t eligible for Medicare.
If you weren’t eligible, you might be exempt from paying the Medicare levy in your tax return.
You need a MES to apply for the Medicare levy exemption in your tax return. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will decide if you need to pay the Medicare levy.
You must get a new MES each year you claim a Medicare levy exemption. Just because you claimed the exemption before, doesn’t mean you’ll get it every year.
Before you apply for a MES, check that you weren’t eligible for Medicare. Even if you don’t have a Medicare card, you may still have been eligible. Read more about enrolling in Medicare.
If you were eligible for Medicare for the whole financial year, you can’t get a MES.
You may get a MES if you were any of the following:
an Australian permanent resident and lived outside Australia for 12 months or more
a temporary visa holder and you hadn’t applied for permanent residence
a temporary visa holder, and you’re not eligible for Medicare under a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement
a New Zealand citizen who spent less than 6 months in Australia within a 12 month period
an Australian citizen living overseas for 5 years or more.
You can apply for MES online using your myGov account.
If you don’t want to complete the MES online form, you can follow these steps:
download the MES application form
complete the application
upload it to myGov with your supporting documents.
If you can’t upload the form and supporting documents to myGov, you can either:
email them to servicesaustralia
post them using the details on the form.
We as the tax agent can apply for you as well.
