The Legal and Tax Side to Mental Health
If you have experienced mental health problems that are very severe, you might need to take disability leave, or even have to leave your job completely.
It will be important to then look if you have any kind of disability cover under a provident, pension or insurance fund.
Find out the rules of your fund. They will usually have specific conditions under which a disability payment would be made. Some funds might accept that a mental health condition falls under the definition of disability; while others might only cover a disability caused by an accident or other external factor.
Usually, an insurance policies will make a lump sum payment if the event is covered. This one time amount is not taxable.
If, however, a monthly payment is made, this income will be taxable, depending on the amount.
Pension and provident funds will usually make monthly payments. These will be based on a person’s monthly salary at the time of the event that caused the disability occurred.
This monthly income will be taxable (depending on the amount) and will continue until you reach normal retirement age. At that stage, the fund will follow the same pay out process as it would after any retirement.
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