Deductions & credits

Generally, the costs of medical therapies that are prescribed by a physician to cure, treat, or prevent disease and are legal in the United States are deductible as a medical expense. Payments to other types of medical practitioners can also qualify. See below:

Medical expenses are the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and for the purpose of affecting any part or function of the body. These expenses include payments for legal medical services rendered by physicians, surgeons, dentists, and other medical practitioners. They include the costs of equipment, supplies, and diagnostic devices needed for these purposes. 

Medical care expenses must be primarily to alleviate or prevent a physical or mental disability or illness. They don't include expenses that are merely beneficial to general health, such as vitamins or a vacation. 

You may be able to include in medical expenses the cost of lodging not provided in a hospital or similar institution. You can include the cost of such lodging while away from home if all of the following requirements are met:

1. The lodging is primarily for and essential to medical care. 
2. The medical care is provided by a doctor in a licensed hospital or in a medical care facility related to, or the equivalent of, a licensed hospital. 
3. The lodging isn't lavish or extravagant under the circumstances. 
4. There is no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation in the travel away from home. 

You can include out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of gas and oil, when you use a car for medical reasons. You can't include depreciation, insurance, general repair, or maintenance expenses. If you don't want to use your actual expenses for 2024, you can use the standard medical mileage rate of 21 cents a mile.

The amount you include in medical expenses for lodging can't be more than $50 for each night for each person. You can include lodging for a person traveling with the person receiving the medical care. For example, if a parent is traveling with a sick child, up to $100 per night can be included as a medical expense for lodging. Meals aren't included. Don't include the cost of lodging while away from home for medical treatment if that treatment isn't received from a doctor in a licensed hospital or in a medical care facility related to, or the equivalent of, a licensed hospital or if that lodging isn't primarily for or essential to the medical care

See IRS Publication 502 for more information.

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