Medical and Dental Expenses

If you itemize your deductions, you may be able to deduct expenses you paid for medical care (including dental) for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents.

The amount you are allowed to deduct is the amount by which your total medical care expenses for the year exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.

A deduction is allowed only for expenses paid for the prevention or alleviation of a physical or mental defect or illness. Medical care expenses include payments for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or treatment affecting any structure or function of the body.  The cost of drugs that require a prescription and insulin are deductible. 

Medical expenses include fees paid to: 

• Doctors,
• Dentists,
• Surgeons,
• Chiropractors,
• Psychiatrists,
• Psychologists, and
• Christian Science practitioners.

Medical expenses included payments for:

• Hospital services,
• Qualified long–term care services,
• Nursing services, and
• Laboratory fees.
• Acupuncture treatments,
• Inpatient treatment at a center for alcohol or drug addiction
• Smoking–cessation programs
• Drugs prescribed to alleviate nicotine withdrawal. (Does not include nicotine gum and nicotine patches, which do not require a prescription.)
• Weight-loss program for a specific disease or diseases, including obesity, diagnosed by a physician. (You may not deduct the cost of purchasing diet food items.)

You can deduct the cost of items such as:

• False teeth,
• Prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses,
• Laser eye surgery,
• Hearing aids,
• Crutches,
• Wheelchairs, and
• Guide dogs for the blind or deaf.

Deductible Insurance Premiums include:

• Insurance premiums paid for accident and health or
• Qualified long-term care insurance. (The deduction for a qualified long–term care insurance is limited. Refer to Publication 502)

If you are self–employed and have a net profit for the year, or if you are a partner in a partnership or a shareholder in an S corporation, you may be able to deduct, as an adjustment to income, 100% of the amount you pay for medical insurance for yourself and your spouse and dependents. You can include the remaining premiums with your other medical expenses as an itemized deduction. You cannot take the special 100% deduction for any month in which you are eligible to participate in any subsidized health plan maintained by your employer or your spouse's employer.  

You may not deduct the following insurance premiums:

• Premiums paid by an employer–sponsored health insurance plan (cafeteria plan) unless the premiums are included in Box 1 of your Form W-2.
• Premiums for life insurance,
• Premiums for policies providing for loss of wages because of illness or injury, or
• Premiums for policies that pay you a guaranteed amount each week for a sickness.

Medical Conferences.  You may include expenses for admission and transportation to a medical conference relating to the chronic disease of either yourself, your spouse, or your dependent (if the costs are primarily for and essential to the medical care).

You may not deduct the costs for meals and lodging while attending the medical conference.

You may not deduct:

• Funeral or burial expenses,
• Health club dues,
• Over–the–counter medicines,
• Toothpaste,
• Toiletries,
• Cosmetics,
• Trips or programs for the general improvement of your health,
• Most cosmetic surgery.

You may include in medical expenses the incidental cost of meals and lodging charged by the hospital or similar institution if your main reason for being there is to receive medical care.

Transportation costs primarily for and essential to medical care qualify as medical expenses.

• The actual fare for a taxi, bus, train, or ambulance can be deducted.
• If you use your car for medical transportation, you can deduct actual out–of–pocket expenses such as gas and oil, or you can deduct the standard mileage rate for medical expenses.
• With either method you may include tolls and parking fees.

Time of Payment:

You can only include the medical expenses you paid during the year, regardless of when the services were provided.

Reimbursements:

Your total medical expenses for the year must be reduced by any reimbursement. It makes no difference if you receive the reimbursement or if it is paid directly to the doctor or hospital.

Who's Expenses you can Deduct: 

You may include qualified medical expenses you pay for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents, including a person you claim as a dependent under a multiple support agreement. If either parent claims a child as a dependent under the rules for divorced or separated parents, each parent may deduct the medical expenses he or she actually pays for the child. You can also deduct medical expenses you paid for someone who would have qualified as your dependent except that the person didn't meet the gross income or joint return test.  

For more information, refer to:

• Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses,
• Form 1040 Instructions, or
• Publication 17.