Medical aid

How to get your POLMED tax certificate for SARS

POLMED members can download the tax certificate in the POLMED Connect app, request it on WhatsApp, or get it from the Member Zone. The app asks for your ID number before it opens the certificate.

Prepare medical certificates for eFiling. TaxScanZA scans and exports SARS-ready PDFs under the upload limit.
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Updated 6 October 2026. General information, not tax advice. TaxScanZA is independent of POLMED and SARS.

Where to find the certificate

POLMED Connect app, from POLMED's April 2026 FAQ:

  1. Log in to the app.
  2. Tap the menu in the top left corner.
  3. Select My Documents and choose the year.
  4. Tap your Tax Certificate and enter your ID number to view it.

POLMED's FAQ notes that you cannot log in to POLMED Connect with your Member Zone details. Register in the app first.

Other channels, from POLMED's member FAQ: request the certificate on POLMED WhatsApp (060 070 2547) under Self Service, get it from the Member Zone on the POLMED website, call the contact centre on 0860 765 633, or visit a POLMED walk-in branch.

Check for a password: If the downloaded PDF asks for your ID number when you open it, the file is protected and eFiling will reject it as it is. Re-scan it before you upload, as below.

What the certificate is for

SARS's ITR12 guide lists "the tax certificate received from your medical scheme for the period 1 March 2025 and ending 28 February 2026" among the supporting documents for the 2026 return. SARS calculates the medical scheme fees tax credit for each month of contributions, for you and your dependants, so check the monthly contributions and the people covered against your own records.

SARS receives this data from your scheme, which is why it usually appears on your return already. You need the certificate itself if a figure is wrong, if you claim additional medical expenses, or if SARS selects your return for verification.

Make it SARS-ready before you upload

When you do upload the certificate, for a correction or a verification, the file has to pass eFiling's upload checks:

  • Under 5MB per file. A multi-page phone photo or a high-resolution scan can go over the limit.
  • Not password-protected. SARS lists password-protected and encrypted documents from banks and funds as a cause of failed uploads. The file opens for you but eFiling rejects it.
  • Readable. Your name, the membership number, the scheme name, the monthly contributions and the dependant details must be legible after any compression.
  • A plain filename. Use letters, numbers and hyphens only, for example polmed-tax-certificate-2026.pdf.
The fix for a protected or oversized PDF: Open the certificate, print it or display it clearly on screen, and scan it as a new PDF. A fresh scan carries no encryption, and TaxScanZA exports it under 5MB with a clean filename.

If the figure on your return is wrong

SARS's ITR12 guide says auto-assessments use data received from "employers, financial institutions, medical schemes, retirement annuity fund administrators and other third-party data providers". If the medical scheme figure on your return does not match your certificate, SARS's auto-assessment guidance is to ask the institution that provided the data to correct it and send the updated data to SARS. Then open your return again, check that the figure has updated, and file. Keep the certificate: it is your proof if SARS asks.

Check the file before you upload

Run the certificate through the SARS Document Compliance Checker. It flags encrypted PDFs, oversized files and filenames eFiling may refuse, in your browser, without uploading anything. Then follow the medical aid certificate upload guide for the eFiling submission itself.

See also encrypted PDF upload error, SARS verification and the supporting documents checklist. Member of another scheme? See the guides for Discovery Health, Bonitas, Momentum Medical Scheme, GEMS, Medshield, Bestmed and Fedhealth.

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