Your travel is deductible.
Transportation
You can include in medical expenses amounts paid for transportation primarily for, and essential to, medical care.
You can include:
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Bus, taxi, train, or plane fares or ambulance service;
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Transportation expenses of a parent who must go with a child who needs medical care;
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Transportation expenses of a nurse or other person who can give injections, medications, or other treatment required by a patient who is traveling to get medical care and is unable to travel alone; and
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Transportation expenses for regular visits to see a mentally ill dependent, if these visits are recommended as a part of treatment.
Car expenses.
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.
You can also include parking fees and tolls. You can add these fees and tolls to your medical expenses whether you use actual expenses or the standard mileage rate.
Example.
In 2024, you drove 2,800 miles for medical reasons. You spent $400 for gas, $30 for oil, and $100 for tolls and parking. You want to figure the amount to include in medical expenses both ways to see which gives the greater deduction.
You figure the actual expenses first. You add the $400 for gas, the $30 for oil, and the $100 for tolls and parking for a total of $530.
You then figure the standard mileage amount. You multiply 2,800 miles by 21 cents a mile for a total of $588. Then you add the $100 tolls and parking and mileage for a total of $688 (588 + 100).
You include the $688 of car expenses with the other medical expenses for the year because the $688 is more than the $530 figured using actual expenses.
Transportation expenses you can't include.
You can't include in medical expenses the cost of transportation in the following situations.
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Going to and from work, even if your condition requires an unusual means of transportation.
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Travel for purely personal reasons to another city for an operation or other medical care.
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Travel that is merely for the general improvement of one's health.
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The costs of operating a specially equipped car for other than medical reasons.
