I am a member of the Voluntary Health Insurance but find that the policy does not fully pay my medical bills. I have been told that I am entitled to claim money back from the taxman for medical costs. Is this so and how do you do it?

Mr S.B., Galway

The simple answer is that you are indeed entitled to claim certain medical expenses against income tax. To do so, you need to complete a MED 1 or MED 2 (for allowable dental expenses) form.

There are, of course, specific exclusions and inclusions. The simplest of the exclusions are:

expenses which have already been reimbursed by a private health insurer - VHI or BUPA - or will be;

expenses which have or will be reimbursed by the regional health board;

expenses which have or will be covered by way of a compensation payment;

the first £100 of outstanding medical costs as an individual or the first £200 if you are claiming for more than one dependent member of a family;

bills for which you do not have receipts - you do not have to submit the receipts but they can be requested.

routine maternity treatment - the first 14 days of treatment in hospital and all treatment and care not provided by the hospital;

routine dental treatment - extractions, fillings and scaling of teeth as well as the provision and repair of artificial teeth;

routine eye treatment - sight testing and the provision and maintenance of spectacles or contact lenses.

Essentially, most non-routine medical expenses are covered by the forms. These include visits to the doctor, hospital care, transport by ambulance and specialised dental treatment. In addition, care outside the country can be covered if that care meets the conditions and is not available in the State. Another important inclusion is the cost of nursing home care for PAYE taxpayers or dependent relatives for whom tax relief is claimed, although this is done according to a formula, details of which are available from the Revenue.

Items which can be prescribed by a doctor and which qualify for relief comprise:

drugs and medicines, provided the bill does not exceed £90 per calendar quarter in which case a claim should be made to the regional health board;

hearings aids;

orthopaedic beds and chairs;

wheelchairs and wheelchair lifts, although no relief is available for building alterations to facilitate a lift;

physiotherapy;

the cost of engaging a nurse in cases of serious illness;

glucometer machines for diabetics.

In addition, certain costs relating to kidney patients' expenses and child cancer patients are eligible.

Dental crowns, bridgework, root canal treatment, orthodontics and treatment for gum disease are all allowable expenses under MED 2. So too are gold inlays, gold posts, tip replacing and veneers. Finally, the surgical extraction of impacted wisdom teeth will be claimable only in cases where it is carried out in a hospital.

Claiming the relief is fairly straightforward. Fill out a MED 1 - plus MED 2 in the case of dental treatment - and return them to the tax office. While the normal practice is to claim on a tax year basis, it is possible to claim on a calendar year basis or to match the period with the renewal period of private health insurance. The only proviso is that the period used remains consistent.

In general, you claim for expenses which have been paid in the 12-month period for which you are claiming. However, you can claim for expenses which have been incurred, but not necessarily paid. In that case, all amounts claimed for the year must relate to expenses incurred during that 12 months.

You can claim for yourself, your spouse, children who are either under16 or over-16 and in full-time education or are handicapped. In either case, children can have an annual income of £2,100 or less without affecting the claim. You may also claim on behalf of dependent relatives.

The tax relief is granted at your top rate of tax.

What is the best option for people who may not have access to the Internet but want to keep in touch with the performance of their stock portfolio?

Mr B.D., Dublin

Despite the rapid onset of new technology, it is true that a lot of small investors still rely on more traditional forms of media for information on the progress of their shares. Those with larger investments are probably kept abreast of affairs by their brokers. All national newspapers publish basic data on the previous day's closing prices for Irish shares. Some, including The Irish Times, also quote a range of British stocks. Another avenue of information is RTE's Aertel service which updates Dublin stock prices three times a day during trading hours. It also provides synopses of London, New York and Tokyo dealings. BBC and ITV provide similar services for British stocks.

Send your queries to Q&A, Business This Week, 10-15 D'Olier St, Dublin 2, or email to dcoyle@irish-times.ie.