You may have to pay the MLS if you or your dependants (including your spouse), did not have an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover for the whole tax year and your income for MLS purposes was above a certain amount.
NB! Even if one spouse has personal cover they are both still liable to pay the surcharge if any of their dependants are not covered.
For this purpose, a dependant (regardless of their income) includes:
your spouse
your children under 21 years old
your children who are 21 years old or older and under 25 years old who are full time students.
Dependants must have been Australian residents and you must have contributed to their maintenance.
Single person surcharge threshold (no dependents)
|
Year
|
Surcharge income threshold - no
dependent children
|
Surcharge Rate
|
|
2011/2012
|
$80,000
|
1%
|
|
2010/2011
|
$77,000
|
1%
|
|
2009/2010
|
$73,000
|
1%
|
|
2008/2009 (note1)
|
$70,000
|
1%
|
|
2007/2008
|
$50,000
|
1%
|
|
2006/2007
|
$50,000
|
1%
|
|
2005/2006
|
$50,000
|
1%
|
|
2004/2005
|
$50,000
|
1%
|
Family surcharge threshold
> a member of a family and the combined taxable income for MLS purposes of you and your spouse (if you had one for the whole year) was above the relevant family surcharge threshold shown in the table below.
The threshold for a family depends on the number of dependent children as listed below:
|
Year
|
Surcharge income threshold for up to one
dependent child
|
Surcharge income threshold for each extra dependent child
|
Surcharge Rate
|
|
2011/2012
|
$160,000
|
$1,500
|
1%
|
|
2010/2011
|
$154,000
|
$1,500
|
1%
|
|
2009/2010
|
$146,000
|
$1,500
|
1%
|
|
2008/2009 (note 1)
|
$140,000
|
$1,500
|
1%
|
|
2007/2008
|
$100,000
|
$1,500
|
1%
|
|
2006/2007
|
$100,000
|
$1,500
|
1%
|
|
2005/2006
|
$100,000
|
$1,500
|
1%
|
|
2004/2005
|
$100,000
|
$1,500
|
1%
|
Note 1: Special conditions apply for 2008/2009 only, if the taxpayer started a policy for private hospital cover between 1 July 2008 and 1 January 2009, and has less than 365 days private hospital cover. If the taxpayer had an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover during any part of the period 1 July 2008 to 31 December 2008 and also on 1 January 2009 the taxpayer is treated as having cover for the whole period 1 July 2008 to 31 December 2008.