It depends what the purpose was for the medical procedure. A few expenses that may be medical-related but aren’t as of yet deductible, according to Uncle Sam, are:
- Elective cosmetic surgery
- Medicine that isn’t FDA approved
Please feel free to post any additional details or questions in the comment section.
To give you a feel for the rules: Deductible medical expenses include payments necessary in order to diagnose, prevent, or treat illness. Obvious deductible expenses include visits to the doctor, dental exams, and X-rays. Also deductible are birth control pills prescribed by a doctor. On the other hand, you can’t deduct cosmetic surgery, unless the cosmetic surgery results from some sort of abnormality, perhaps from an accident or disease. If the cosmetic surgery is performed solely to improve one’s appearance, it is not deductible. On the same theory, teeth whitening is out too..
The government has an enormous list of qualifying medical and dental expenses that they have ruled as eligible for deduction on your income taxes. For a full list of every piece of information dealing with deductible medical expenses, see IRS Publication 502.
For time’s sake, here are a few of the most common expenses (and some commonly overlooked expenses) that are deductible.
- Diagnosis and Cures
- Annual Physical Exams
- Medicine, Treatment and Prevention
- Dental Treatments
- Medical Equipment, Supplies and Diagnosis Devices
- Ambulance and Other Medical Professional Transportation
- Travel expenses to and from treatment
- Insurance payments
- Chiropractor
- Psychologist
- Physical Therapy
