What medical expenses are deductible?
Many taxpayers do not deduct medical expenses because their total medical costs do not exceed the threshold of 7.5% of their adjusted gross income. However, taxpayers who have substantial medical bills may be surprised at what they can deduct and what they cannot deduct.
These expenses may be included in your medical expense deduction:
Acupuncture – Needle the IRS. Porcupines may include in medical expenses the amounts they pay for acupuncture.
Braille Books and Magazines – Do not turn a blind eye to this deduction. A visually impaired person may deduct the cost of Braille books or magazines that exceeds the cost of the regular printed editions.
Improvements to Your Home – If the main purpose of your remodeling is medical care for you, your spouse, or a dependent, you may deduct the cost of such improvements. One caveat: You must reduce your deduction by any increase in the market value of your home. If the value of your property is not increased by the improvement, the entire cost is included as a medical expense. This deduction can be substantial. The example the IRS uses in its Publication 502 is an elevator that your doctor prescribes. Make sure your doctor literally signs off on any improvements that may be deductible.
Treatments for Drug Addiction – You may include in medical expenses amounts you pay for an inpatient’s treatment at a therapeutic center for drug addiction. Include the amounts you pay for meals and lodging at the facility during treatment.
Fertility Enhancement – Octomom is covered (if she paid anything.) The cost of procedures to overcome an inability to have children is deductible.
Stop-Smoking Programs – You may deduct medical expenses you pay for programs to stop smoking. As with all medical deductions, the treatment must be prescribed by a doctor. Drugs that do not require prescriptions and are sold over-the-counter like nicotine gum or patches are not deductible. When in doubt, have your doctor write you a script.
Medical Travel – You may deduct mileage for your trips to your doctor or hospital. NOTE: The amount you may deduct per mile will decline to 16.5 cents per mile in 2010.
These expenses are NOT deductible:
Cosmetic Surgery – Sorry, Joan Rivers, the law does not allow a deduction for cosmetic surgery unless it is needed to “correct a deformity related to an injury, disease, or congenital abnormality, to meaningfully promote the proper function of the body, or to prevent or treat illness or disease”. Merely improving appearance is not enough for a procedure to qualify as deductible. Hence, treatment of tooth discoloration, electrolysis, hair transplants, breast enhancement procedures, and face-lifts are generally not deductible.
Not Covered. Not Deductible.
Gym Dues – Pain, no tax gain. Generally the costs of producing your gorgeous abs are not deductible. You cannot include in medical expenses health club dues or amounts paid to a personal trainer to improve one’s general health.
Veterinary Fees – The IRS does not love Fido as much as you do. You cannot include veterinary fees in your medical expenses.
Medicines and Drugs From Other Countries – Those trips to Mexico and Canada for drugs do not save you as much as your might think. In general, you cannot include in your deductible medical expenses the cost of a prescribed drug brought in (or ordered shipped) from another country.
Maternity Clothes – You cannot include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for maternity clothes.
This is an update of a post previously published on August 20, 2009.