Medical expense deduction

[jmhoward2]

I wear custom leg braces that cause me to have to buy $200-300 shoes that are xxxwide and way bigger than my normal shoe size at specialty wide shoe stores. Are these tax deductible?  I know I would have to wear shoes regardless, but I can’t run to Payless or Walmart or even a retail shoe store for a shoe at a reasonable price, and they never go on sale. 

[Bsch4477 · Accepted solution]

You can deduct the extra cost of the special shoes compared with what you would pay for normal shoes.  You have to itemize your expenses and can only deduct a total of medical expenses greater than 7.5 percent of your AGI.