Drugs purchased online: can they be deducted?

Conditions for deducting medicines bought on the Internet from taxes; what is needed to document the expense; how to check if the site is authorized to sell.

Many Italians buy medicines on the Internet, for practicality and sometimes also for convenience. But for tax purposes are these operations carried out in online stores equivalent to those in traditional pharmacies, or parapharmacies, or is there some difference? THE drugs purchased online can be deducted from taxes as health care costs or not?

First of all, let’s clarify that in Italy the online sale of pharmaceutical specialties that require a doctor’s prescription is not allowed, therefore the prescription requirement cannot be bypassed for these medicines. Therefore the discussion we will make concerns the online purchase of all drugs for free sale, i.e. those for which a doctor’s prescription is not necessary.

Deduction of drugs bought online: when is it possible?

The Revenue Agency has recognized the tax deductibility of the expenses incurred for theonline purchase of all drugs and medicines that do not require a doctor’s prescription [1].

However, online purchases of medicines, to be tax deductible, must have been made only at pharmacies or other commercial establishments, authorized for distance selling by the competent national or local authorities (Regions and Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano). We’ll tell you how to spot them shortly.

How to document online drug purchases?

The conditions for taking advantage of the deduction are the same as for health care costs in general: you need the invoice or what receipt “speaking”, with the specification of the type of drug, its denomination (also with the reference alphanumeric code, the quantity of the product, the price paid and the buyer’s tax code.

How to know if the online pharmacy is licensed?

To deduct online drug purchases the site must be approved

To check if it store of virtual e-commerce (pharmacy or shop) that you found on the Internet is regularly authorized for online saleit is possible to consult the page with the list of «Persons authorized to trade medicines online» on the Ministry of Health website.

The Internet address of the page to consult is this:https://www.salute.gov.it/LogoCommercioElettronico/CercaSitoEComm and in the mask you can enter the name of the business that interests you to get an immediate answer. Alternatively, you can download the full list.

Drugs purchased online: how much can you deduct?

The amount of expenditure incurred by the taxpayer for drugs purchased online is 19% deductible from Irpef, with an overall deductible – envisaged for all medical, health, pharmaceutical and veterinary expenses – of 129.11 euros. Therefore the 19% deduction will be due for the part exceeding this threshold. For example, those who have spent 300 euros will be able to deduct 19% of the difference between the amount spent and the deductible, therefore they will have a tax discount of 32 euros.