What Expenses Are Not Deductible?

Following is a list of some items that you cannot include in figuring your medical expense deduction. The items are listed in alphabetical order.

Baby Sitting, Child Care, and Nursing Services for a Normal, Healthy Baby

You cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for the care of your children even if the expenses enable you to get medical or dental treatment. Also, any expense allowed as a child care credit cannot be treated as an expense paid for medical care. See also Healthy baby under Nursing Services, earlier.

Controlled Substances

You cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for controlled substances (such as marijuana, laetrile, etc.), in violation of federal law.

Cosmetic Surgery

Generally, you cannot include in medical expenses the amount you pay for unnecessary cosmetic surgery. This applies to any procedure that is directed at improving the patient's appearance and does not meaningfully promote the proper function of the body or prevent or treat illness or disease. Procedures such as face lifts, hair transplants, hair removal (electrolysis), and liposuction generally are not deductible.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for cosmetic surgery if it is necessary to improve a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or a disfiguring disease.

Dancing Lessons

You cannot include the cost of dancing lessons, swimming lessons, etc., even if they are recommended by a doctor, if they are only for the improvement of general health.

Diaper Service

You cannot include in medical expenses the amount you pay for diapers or diaper services, unless they are needed to relieve the effects of a particular disease.

Electrolysis or Hair Removal

See Cosmetic Surgery, earlier.

Funeral Expenses

You cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for funerals. However, funeral expenses may be deductible on the decedent's federal estate tax return.

Hair Transplant

See Cosmetic Surgery, earlier.

Health Club Dues

You cannot include in medical expenses health club dues, YMCA dues, or amounts paid for steam baths for your general health or to relieve physical or mental discomfort not related to a particular medical condition.

You cannot include in medical expenses the cost of membership in any club organized for business, pleasure, recreation, or other social purpose.

Health Insurance Credit

You cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for health insurance that you use in figuring your health insurance credit. For more information, see Health Insurance Credit, later.

Household Help

You cannot include in medical expenses the cost of household help, even if such help is recommended by a doctor. This is a personal expense that is not deductible. However, you may be able to include certain expenses paid to a person providing nursing-type services. Also, certain maintenance or personal care services provided for qualified long-term care can be included in medical expenses.

Illegal Operations and Treatments

You cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for illegal operations, treatments, or controlled substances whether rendered or prescribed by licensed or unlicensed practitioners.

Insurance Premiums for Certain Types of Policies

See Insurance Premiums under What Medical Expenses Are Deductible, earlier.

Maternity Clothes

You cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for maternity clothes.

Medical Savings Account (MSA)

You cannot deduct as a qualified medical expense amounts you contribute to an Archer MSA. You cannot deduct qualified medical expenses as an itemized deduction if you pay for them with a tax-free distribution from your Archer MSA. You also cannot use other funds equal to the amount of the distribution and claim a deduction. For more information on Archer MSAs, see Publication 969, Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs).

Nonprescription Drugs and Medicines

Except for insulin, you cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for a drug that is not prescribed.

Nutritional Supplements

You cannot include in medical expenses the cost of nutritional supplements, vitamins, herbal supplements, natural medicines, etc., unless you can only obtain them legally with a physician's prescription.

Personal Use Items

You cannot include in medical expenses an item ordinarily used for personal, living, or family purposes unless it is used primarily to prevent or alleviate a physical or mental defect or illness. For example, the cost of a toothbrush and toothpaste is a nondeductible personal expense.

Where an item purchased in a special form primarily to alleviate a physical defect is one that in normal form is ordinarily used for personal, living, or family purposes, the excess of the cost of the special form over the cost of the normal form is a medical expense (see Braille Books and Magazines under What Medical Expenses Are Deductible, earlier).

Swimming Lessons

See Dancing Lessons, earlier.

Weight-Loss Program

You cannot include the cost of a weight-loss program in medical expenses if the purpose of the weight control is not treatment of a specific ailment or disease diagnosed by a physician, but rather to improve your appearance, your general health, or your sense of well-being. Also, you cannot include the cost of diet food items in medical expenses if the food is a substitute for the food you normally consume to satisfy your nutritional needs. See also, Weight-Loss Program under What Medical Expenses Are Deductible, earlier.

How Do You Deduct Impairment-Related Work Expenses?

If you are disabled and have expenses which are necessary for you to be able to work (impairment-related work expenses), take a business deduction for these expenses, rather than a medical deduction. You are disabled if you have:

• A physical or mental disability (for example, blindness or deafness) that functionally limits your being employed, or
• A physical or mental impairment (for example, a sight or hearing impairment) that substantially limits one or more of your major life activities, such as performing manual tasks, walking, speaking, breathing, learning, or working.

Deduct impairment-related expenses as business expenses if they are:

• Necessary for you to do your work satisfactorily,
• For goods and services not required or used, other than incidentally, in your personal activities, and
• Not specifically covered under other income tax laws.

If you are self-employed, deduct the business expenses on the appropriate form (Schedule C, C-EZ, E, or F) used to report your business income and expenses. If you are an employee with impairment-related work expenses, complete Form 2106, Employee Business Expenses, or Form 2106-EZ, Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses. Your impairment-related work expenses are not subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limit that applies to other employee business expenses.

Example.   You are blind. You must use a reader to do your work. You use the reader both during your regular working hours at your place of work and outside your regular working hours away from your place of work. The reader's services are only for your work. You can deduct your expenses for the reader as business expenses.

How Do You Treat Reimbursements?

You can deduct as medical expenses only those amounts paid during the taxable year for which you received no insurance or other reimbursement.

Insurance Reimbursement

You must reduce your total medical expenses for the year by all reimbursements for medical expenses that you receive from insurance or other sources during the year. This includes payments from Medicare.

Generally, you do not reduce medical expenses by payments you receive for:

• Permanent loss or loss of use of a member or function of the body (loss of limb, sight, hearing, etc.) or disfigurement that is based on the nature of the injury without regard to the amount of time lost from work,
• Loss of earnings, or
• Damages for personal injury or sickness.

You must, however, reduce your medical expenses by any part of these payments that is designated for medical costs. See How Do You Figure Your Deduction, later.

What If Your Insurance Reimbursement Is More Than Your Medical Expenses?

If you are reimbursed more than your medical expenses, you may have to include the excess in income. You may want to use Figure 1 to help you decide if any of your reimbursement will be taxable income.

 

Reimbursement Taxable?

Premiums paid by you.   If you pay the entire premium for your medical insurance or all the costs of a plan similar to medical insurance, and your insurance payments or other reimbursements are more than your total medical expenses for the year, you have excess reimbursement. Generally, you do not include the excess reimbursement in your gross income. However, gross income does include total payments in excess of the per diem limit for qualified long-term care insurance. See Periodic Payments Not Taxed, under Long-Term Care, earlier, for the per diem amounts.

Premiums paid by you and your employer.   If both you and your employer contribute to your medical insurance plan and your employer's contributions are not included in your gross income, you must include in your gross income the part of your excess reimbursement that is from your employer's contribution.

You can figure the percentage of the excess reimbursement you must include in gross income using the following formula.

Formula. Taxable Excess Reimbursement When Employer Pays Part of Premium

Example.   You are covered by your employer's medical insurance policy. The annual premium is $2,000. Your employer pays $600 of that amount and the balance of $1,400 is taken out of your wages. The part of any excess reimbursement you receive under the policy that is from your employer's contributions is figured as follows.

Formula (Example). Taxable Excess Reimbursement When Employer Pays Part of Premium

Therefore, you must include in your gross income 30% (.30) of any excess reimbursement you received for medical expenses under the policy.

Premiums paid by your employer.   If your employer or your former employer pays the total cost of your medical insurance plan and your employer's contributions are not included in your income, you must report all of your excess reimbursement as other income.

More than one policy.   If you are covered under more than one policy, the costs of which are paid by both you and your employer, you must first divide the medical expenses among the policies to figure the excess reimbursement from each policy. Then divide the policy costs to figure the part of any excess reimbursement that is from your employer's contribution.

Example.   You are covered by your employer's health insurance policy. The annual premium is $1,200. Your employer pays $300, and the balance of $900 is deducted from your wages. You also paid the entire premium ($250) for a personal health insurance policy.

During the year, you paid medical expenses of $3,600. In the same year, you were reimbursed $2,400 under your employer's policy and $1,600 under your own personal policy.

You can figure the part of the excess reimbursement that is from your employer's contribution by using Worksheet 2.

What If You Receive Insurance Reimbursement in a Later Year?

If you are reimbursed in a later year for medical expenses you deducted in an earlier year, you generally must report the reimbursement as income up to the amount you previously deducted as medical expenses.

However, you do not report as income the amount of reimbursement you received up to the amount of your medical deductions that did not reduce your tax for the earlier year.

For more information about the recovery of an amount that you claimed as an itemized deduction in an earlier year, see Recoveries in Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income.

What If You Are Reimbursed for Medical Expenses You Did Not Deduct?

If you did not deduct a medical expense in the year you paid it because your medical expenses were not more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, or because you did not itemize deductions, do not include in income the reimbursement for this expense that you receive in a later year. However, if the reimbursement is more than the expense, see What If Your Insurance Reimbursement Is More Than Your Medical Expenses, earlier.

Example.   Last year, you had $500 of medical expenses. You cannot deduct the $500 because it is less than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. If, in a later year, you are reimbursed for any of the $500 of medical expenses, you do not include that amount in your gross income.

How Do You Report the Deduction on Your Tax Return?

Once you have determined which medical care expenses you can include when figuring your deduction, you must report the deduction on your tax return.

What Tax Form Do You Use?

You report your medical expense deduction on Schedule A, Form 1040. You cannot claim medical expenses on Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ. An example of a filled-in medical and dental expense part of Schedule A is shown.

How Do You Figure Your Deduction?

To figure your medical and dental expense deduction, complete lines 1-4 of Schedule A, Form 1040, as follows:

Line 1.   Enter the amount you paid for medical expenses after reducing the amount by payments you received from insurance and other sources.

Line 2.   Enter your adjusted gross income from Form 1040, line 36.

Line 3.   Multiply the amount on line 2 (adjusted gross income) by 7.5% (.075) and enter the result.

Line 4.   If line 3 is more than line 1, enter zero. Otherwise, subtract the amount on line 3 from the amount on line 1. This is your deduction for medical and dental expenses.

Bill and Helen's Schedule A

Example.   Bill and Helen Jones belong to a group medical plan and part of their insurance is paid by Bill's employer. They file a joint return, and their adjusted gross income is $33,004. The following medical expenses Bill and Helen paid this year have been reduced by payments they received from the insurance company.

1. For themselves, Bill and Helen paid $375 for prescription medicines and drugs, $337 for hospital bills, $439 for doctor bills, $295 for hospitalization insurance, $380 for medical and surgical insurance, and $33 for transportation for medical treatment, which totals $1,859.
2. For Grace Taylor (Helen's dependent mother), they paid $300 for doctors, $300 for insulin, and $175 for eyeglasses, which totals $775.
3. For Betty Jones (Bill's dependent sister), they paid $450 for doctors and $350 for prescription medicines and drugs, which totals $800.

Bill and Helen add all their medical and dental expenses together ($1,859 + $775 + $800 = $3,434). They figure their deduction on the medical and dental expenses part of Schedule A, Form 1040, as shown.

Recordkeeping. For each medical expense, you must keep a record of the name and address of each person you paid, and the amount and date of the payment.

When requested by the IRS, you must be able to substantiate your medical deduction with a statement or itemized invoice from the person or entity you paid showing the nature of the expense, for whom it was incurred, the amount paid, the date of payment, and any other information the IRS may deem necessary. Do not send these records with your return.

Worksheet 2. Taxable Excess Medical Reimbursement If You Have More Than One Health Insurance Policy

1.	Enter the reimbursement from your employer's policy	1.
2.	Enter the reimbursement from your own policy	2.
3.	Add lines 1 and 2			3.
4.	Divide line 1 by line 3	4.
5.	Enter the total medical expenses you paid during the year	5.
6.	Multiply line 4 by line 5			6.
7.	Subtract line 6 from line 1			7.
8.	Enter employer's contribution to the annual cost of the employer's policy	8.
9.	Enter total premium of employer's policy	9.
10.	Divide line 8 by line 9. This is the percentage of your total excess reimbursement you must report as other income			10.
11.	Multiply line 7 by line 10. This is the amount you must report on line 21, Form 1040			11.

Worksheet 2. Example of Taxable Excess Medical Reimbursement If You Have More Than One Health Insurance Policy - Illustrated

1.	Enter the reimbursement from your employer's policy	1.	$2,400
2.	Enter the reimbursement from your own policy	2.	1,600
3.	Add lines 1 and 2			3.	$4,000
4.	Divide line 1 by line 3	4.	.60
5.	Enter the total medical expenses you paid during the year	5.	3,600
6.	Multiply line 4 by line 5			6.	2,160
7.	Subtract line 6 from line 1			7.	240
8.	Enter employer's contribution to the annual cost of the employer's policy	8.	300
9.	Enter total premium of employer's policy	9.	1,200
10.	Divide line 8 by line 9. This is the percentage of your total excess reimbursement you must report as other income			10.	.25
11.	Multiply line 7 by line 10. This is the amount you must report on line 21, Form 1040			11.	$60

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