If you’re going to itemize your tax deductions this year, you might want to include medical expenses, but how do you know which ones are qualified? The IRS imposes strict guidelines on claims for medical care, education, charitable donations and everything else under the sun. This article will provide you with guidelines for each time of medical expense, but you’ll need to consult a tax professional on your itemized deductions to make sure it’s legal.
Medical Professionals
The first type of qualified medical expense that you can claim on itemized tax deductions is medical visits, which can include everything from your GP to your chiropractor. For most people, insurance will cover the majority of these expenses, but you can deduct your copay and any additional services that are necessary to your health. Specialists are included in this category as well as dentists, eye doctors and even acupuncture.
Medical Facilities
If you’ve had to stay in a hospital or clinic, or if you’ve had tests at an imaging center, these are also qualified medical expenses that can be added to your tax deductions. This can also extend to the facilities that process results, such as laboratories, and separate hospices that care for the terminally ill or the elderly. Again, you can only deduct those expenses that are not covered by your insurance.
Medical Procedures
Other qualified expenses can include the procedures that you must undergo for diagnosis or treatment of an illness, disease or malady. Your tax deductions can include things like surgery, blood work, bone scans, chemotherapy, urinalysis and x-rays, all of which may be covered by your insurance. You can also deduct procedures such as abortions and sterilizations, especially since these procedures are rarely covered by insurance.
When your doctor prescribes a drug for you to take, this also qualifies as a medical expense for tax deductions. Make sure you record the name of the drug and its price when you visit the pharmacy, and you can’t include the cost of free samples that a physician might give you to try.
Medical Aides
In addition to medicine, doctors also require that their patients purchase medical aides to recover from an illness or injury. For example, if you rented a wheelchair after you broke your leg, the payments are qualified tax deductions. This could also include things like orthopedic shoes, hospital beds, crutches, prosthesis and even a seeing eye dog for the visually impaired.
Treatment Programs
In most cases, treatment programs for substance abuse are also qualified medical expenses that can be included in your tax deductions. The expenses you incur might include the cost of the program, the lodging for live-in programs, meals and any equipment required to complete the course or program. You’ll have to check with your tax accountant to see if programs ordered by the courts will be covered.
This is just a short list of some of the medical expenses you can use as tax deductions. Others could include transportation to medical facilities for treatment, exercise equipment ordered by a physician, home improvement items required for disabled individuals, and much more. Talk with a CPA to learn more about your options.
