By Chris Herbst, Chartered Business Accountant in Practice (CBAP) with CIBA, General Tax Practitioner (GTP) with SAIT, Stellenbosch University. Team registered with SAIT, SAIPA and CIBA.
Many employees open their IRP5 and find a line for medical aid among their income, next to source code 3810. It looks like extra salary you never received in cash. It is not a mistake. This guide explains what code 3810 is, why your employer reports it as income, how it links to codes 4474 and 4005, how it gives you the medical tax credits, and what to check on your ITR12 before you file.
What Is SARS Code 3810 on an IRP5?
SARS code 3810 shows the medical aid contributions your employer paid to a medical scheme on your behalf. The SARS Guide for Codes Applicable to Employees Tax Certificates (PAYE-AE-06-G06) lists 3810 under the fringe benefit codes as "medical aid contributions paid on behalf of an employee", subject to PAYE.
Why is it called a fringe benefit?
A fringe benefit is a non-cash benefit your employer gives you because of your employment. When your employer pays part or all of your medical scheme contribution, you receive cover you would otherwise pay for yourself. The Seventh Schedule to the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 treats that payment as a taxable benefit under paragraph 2(i), valued under paragraph 12A, and the value is included in your income.
What is code 3860?
Code 3860 is the foreign service income version of 3810. SARS's guide states that 3860 is used only for foreign service income, meaning remuneration for employment services rendered outside South Africa.
Who is code 3810 used for?
Code 3810 is used for employees whose employer pays medical scheme contributions on their behalf while they are employed. SARS's validation rules in the PAYE Employer Reconciliation BRS also state that 3810 is not allowed on a certificate that carries code 4493, the code used for a medical subsidy from a former employer.
Is Code 3810 Taxable Income?
Yes. The amount next to 3810 is a taxable benefit, so it forms part of your remuneration and PAYE is calculated on it. The SARS FAQ on deemed medical contributions states that medical contributions paid by an employer for the benefit of an employee to a registered medical scheme result in a taxable benefit in the hands of the employee and form part of gross income.
Does 3810 count towards gross remuneration?
Yes. In the worked examples in the Comprehensive Guide to the ITR12 Income Tax Return for Individuals (IT-AE-36-G05), the 3810 medical benefit is added with salary, commission and taxable allowances to reach gross remuneration under code 3699.
Am I taxed twice on my medical aid?
No. The same amount that is added to your income under 3810 is also treated as a contribution you paid yourself. That deemed contribution counts towards your medical scheme fees tax credit and, where you qualify, the additional medical expenses tax credit. The income inclusion and the credit work together, which is how an employer-paid contribution and a contribution deducted from your salary end up in the same position.
How Does Code 3810 Link to Codes 4474 and 4005?
Code 3810 always travels with two other codes on your IRP5: 4474, which records what the employer paid to the scheme, and 4005, which records the total contributions treated as paid by you. SARS's validation rules require all three to agree.
What is code 4474?
The PAYE BRS describes 4474 as the employer's medical scheme fees (contributions) paid for the benefit of employees, not included in code 4493. For years of assessment after 2010, the BRS requires the value of 3810 to equal the value of 4474, and 4474 is mandatory whenever 3810 is completed.
What is code 4005?
Code 4005 is the total of medical scheme contributions paid and deemed paid by you as the employee. The BRS states that "deemed paid" means the value of the taxable benefit under code 3810. So 4005 includes the employer's share from 3810 plus anything deducted from your salary for medical aid. Since the 2007 year of assessment, 4005 is mandatory when 3810 has a value.
What are codes 4116 and 4120?
Code 4116 is the medical scheme fees tax credit your employer took into account when it calculated PAYE. Code 4120 is the additional medical expenses tax credit allowed by the employer for an employee aged 65 or older. The BRS requires 4116 whenever 4005 has a value, and neither code is used where 4005 is empty.
The table below summarises the medical codes you are likely to see on an IRP5, using the definitions in the SARS guides.
- 3810: What it shows: Employer-paid medical aid; Where it counts: Income, taxable benefit
- 3813: What it shows: Employer-paid medical costs; Where it counts: Income, taxable benefit
- 4474: What it shows: Employer contributions paid; Where it counts: Must equal 3810
- 4005: What it shows: Contributions paid and deemed paid; Where it counts: Medical tax credits
- 4024: What it shows: Medical costs deemed paid; Where it counts: Medical tax credits
- 4116: What it shows: Medical credit used in PAYE; Where it counts: PAYE calculation
- 4120: What it shows: Additional credit, age 65 and over; Where it counts: PAYE calculation
- 4493: What it shows: Former employer subsidy; Where it counts: Declared separately
How Does Code 3810 Give You the Medical Tax Credits?
The employer's contribution on 3810 counts as your own contribution for the medical scheme fees tax credit under section 6A of the Act. The SARS Guide on the Determination of Medical Tax Credits (Issue 18) states that contributions paid by an employer are taken into account to the extent that the amount has been included in your income as a taxable benefit, citing section 6A(3)(b) read with paragraphs 2(i) and 12A of the Seventh Schedule.
How much is the medical scheme fees tax credit?
The credit is a fixed monthly amount that rises with the number of dependants on the scheme. According to the SARS Medical Tax Credit Rates page, for the 2027 year of assessment (1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027) it is R376 a month for the taxpayer, R752 a month for the taxpayer and one dependant, and R254 a month for each additional dependant. For the 2026 year of assessment the amounts were R364, R728 and R246.
Does my employer apply the credit during the year?
Yes, where the employer pays the medical scheme fees. The SARS Medical Credits page states that the credit must be taken into account by the employer when calculating the employees' tax to be withheld. The IT07 guide adds that an employer who does not pay the fees has the option to apply the credit once you give proof of payment. The amount applied appears next to 4116.
Can the credit create a refund on its own?
No. SARS describes the medical scheme fees tax credit as non-refundable. It reduces the normal tax you pay, and any part that exceeds your normal tax for the year is not carried over to the next year.
How Does 3810 Affect the Additional Medical Expenses Tax Credit?
Because the 3810 amount is part of your total contributions under 4005, it also feeds the additional medical expenses tax credit under section 6B. The calculation depends on your age and whether you, your spouse or your child has a disability.
How is the additional credit calculated if I am under 65?
The IT07 guide states that taxpayers under 65 with no disability in the family receive 25% of the amount by which the sum of two items exceeds 7.5% of taxable income: contributions above four times the medical scheme fees tax credit, plus qualifying medical expenses not recovered from the scheme.
How is it calculated if I am 65 or older, or have a disability in the family?
For taxpayers aged 65 or older, and for a taxpayer whose spouse, child or self has a disability, the IT07 guide applies 33.3% to the contributions above three times the medical scheme fees tax credit plus the qualifying medical expenses. There is no 7.5% floor. For an employee aged 65 or older, the employer applies the contribution part during the year and records it under 4120; out-of-pocket expenses are claimed only on assessment.
How to Check Code 3810 on eFiling and Your ITR12
Check 3810 in three places: your IRP5, the medical section of your ITR12, and your medical scheme's tax certificate. Work through these steps before you file.
Step 1: Read the IRP5 on eFiling
Log in to eFiling, open your ITR12 for the year, and view the IRP5 under the employee tax certificate section. Confirm that 3810 equals 4474, that 4005 is at least as large as 3810, and that 4116 has a value if 4005 does.
Step 2: Answer the medical question on the return wizard
From the 2025 year of assessment, the ITR12 wizard asks you to mark with an X if you or your employer paid any qualifying disability or medical expenses, including contributions to a medical scheme where you are the main member. The ITR12 comprehensive guide notes that contributions paid via your employer appear next to code 4005 on your IRP5. Mark this question so the medical section opens.
Step 3: Complete the medical scheme details
In the section for medical expenditure where you are the main member, enter the scheme name, membership number and the number of dependants per month. Then complete "State the total medical contributions made by yourself and / or your employer to this scheme", which is source code 4005 on the return.
Step 4: Use the medical tax certificate as your figure
The ITR12 guide states that the 4005 amount on your IRP5 is not automatically taken into account on assessment. Insert the total contributions shown on your medical scheme's tax certificate. Where the certificate refers you to the employee tax certificate instead of showing a figure, use the amount next to 4005 on the IRP5. SARS prepopulates medical details for main members from third-party data, so compare what is prepopulated with your certificate.
Step 5: Add out-of-pocket expenses with proof
Claims not recovered from the scheme go next to source code 4020, and other qualifying expenses you paid yourself go next to 4034. Keep receipts. The IT07 guide states that records must be kept for five years from the date the return is submitted, and SARS can ask for them in a verification.
What If Codes 3810 and 4005 Do Not Match?
A 4005 figure lower than 3810 means the employer's certificate has an error, because 4005 must include the deemed contribution from 3810. A 4005 figure higher than 3810 is normal when you also paid part of the contribution through payroll.
Who corrects a wrong IRP5?
Your employer. The ITR12 guide states that where third-party data is incorrect, you must contact the third party, meaning the employer or fund administrator, to rectify and resend the correct data to SARS. You do not edit IRP5 codes yourself on eFiling.
What if my assessment already issued with the wrong figures?
If the wrong medical figures were used in an auto-assessment, read our guide on how to dispute a SARS auto-assessment. If you submitted a return with an error you caught later, a Request for Correction is the route to fix it.
Does Code 3810 Apply to Pensioners and Former Employees?
Not usually. Medical aid contributions paid by a former employer for a retired employee are a medical subsidy and are generally reflected under source code 4493, not 3810. SARS's validation rules do not allow 3810 on a certificate that carries 4493.
How do I declare a former employer's medical subsidy?
The ITR12 guide states that from the 2019 year of assessment the subsidy under 4493 is included when you calculate the 4005 contribution amount, and that the subsidy must also be declared in the separate field provided on the return. Pensioners aged 65 or older then receive the 33.3% additional credit on the qualifying amounts.
What about an employee over 65 who has not retired?
The BRS states that from 1 March 2012 contributions paid by the employer for an employee aged 65 or older who has not retired are also reflected under code 4474, so the 3810 and 4474 pairing still applies.
Common Mistakes With SARS Code 3810
Most 3810 problems come from reading the IRP5 in isolation. These are common mistakes to avoid.
- Treating 3810 as an error. It is a taxable benefit the Seventh Schedule requires your employer to report.
- Leaving the medical section of the ITR12 empty. The 4005 figure on your IRP5 is not automatically taken into account on assessment, so the credits depend on the return.
- Entering only your own payroll deduction. The 4005 total includes the employer's share from 3810.
- Claiming for contributions someone else paid. The ITR12 guide states that if another person, such as an adult child, paid your contributions, you cannot claim the medical tax credits for them.
- Claiming gap cover as a medical scheme contribution. Premiums paid to long-term or short-term insurers for gap cover or hospital insurance do not qualify, because they are not paid to a registered medical scheme.
- Claiming out-of-pocket amounts without receipts. The ITR12 guide states that a prepopulated amount must be reduced to the value of the proof of payment you hold, or to zero if you have none.
Medical codes sit alongside your retirement codes on the same certificate. Our guides to ITA34 codes 4001, 4003 and 3817 and to SARS code 3825 explain those lines, and medical tax deductions explained covers out-of-pocket costs in more detail.
Do You Need Help With SARS Code 3810?
If your IRP5 medical codes do not add up, or you are not sure the medical credits on your ITR12 are complete, we prepare and file individual returns and deal with SARS for you. See our fixed fees on the personal tax pricing page, browse more guides in our personal tax hub, or contact us to start.
