My uncorrected vision deteriorated and disqualified me from employment so I got lasik. Can I deduct this as employment expense instead of medical expense?

m-wolfrom — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 22:59:53 GMT

[actually, this may be the wrong answer]

Opus 17 — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 22:59:55 GMT

[actually, this may be the wrong answer]

Maybe. This is what the IRS says. The problem here is th...

Opus 17 — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 22:59:58 GMT

Maybe. This is what the IRS says.

The expense qualifies as a business expense if all the following apply.

•Your work clearly requires the expense for you to satisfactorily perform that work.

•The goods or services purchased are clearly not needed or used, other than incidentally, in your personal activities.

•Their treatment isn’t specifically provided for under other tax law provisions.

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

The problem here is that LASIK benefits both your work life and your private life. Potentially you could argue that you would have been fine wearing glasses at home. But unlike the situation where a blind person might buy 2 sets of electronic assistive devices and deduct one set that stays at work (while the set that stays at home is a personal medical expense deduction with the higher limits), your lasik can't be separated into work and personal use.

"Not needed or used in your personal activities" is going to rule this out for you I think. If you do include it as a work expense, it is obviously at your own risk of audit.

"Their treatment isn’t specifically provided for under ot...

TaxGuyBill — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 22:59:59 GMT

"Their treatment isn’t specifically provided for under other tax law provisions"

Lasik is a medical deduction, so it would not qualify as a job expense.

topic [actually, this may be the wrong answer] in Deductions & credits

My uncorrected vision deteriorated and disqualified me from employment so I got lasik. Can I deduct this as employment expense instead of medical expense?

[actually, this may be the wrong answer]

Maybe. This is what the IRS says. The problem here is th...

"Their treatment isn’t specifically provided for under ot...