My dog is a volunteer certified therapy dog. How/Where do I enter her medical and grooming expenses for deduction?

[MinhT]

Yes, you can claim expenses related to your therapy dog in Medical expenses.

On the subject, IRS Publication 502 - Medical Expenses says:

"You can include in medical expenses the costs of buying, training, and maintaining a guide dog or other service animal to assist a visually impaired or hearing disabled person, or a person with other physical disabilities. In general, this includes any costs, such as food, grooming, and veterinary care, incurred in maintaining the health and vitality of the service animal so that it may perform its duties"

[bwa]

I read your post different than TTMinhT.  I agree with TTMinhT if your therapy dog is for your physical disabilities.  However, from the word "volunteer" in your post, I assume instead that the dog is used for the comfort of others.

If for the comfort of others, and if done under the auspices of a tax exempt hospital or other organization, then the direct out of pocket expenses would be deductible as an out of pocket charitable contribution, not as your own medical expenses.  Whether medical and grooming expenses are a "direct" cost depends on any other use of the dog, such as for a family pet.  If the time spend as a therapy dog is not material, then those expenses would be nondeductible personal expenses.  Mileage to the hospital, tax-exempt assisted living facility, etc. would be deductible but at the medical rate.

[carolynbspalding]

bwa - you are correct in your interpretation of my intent. We are a certified therapy dog team that visits the local non-profit children's hospital weekly. All of my fellow teams have told me that the medical expenses and grooming costs are deductible. It sounds like from your reply that may not be the case. Grooming expenses, possibly because we are required to groom our dogs within 24 hours of a visit so it would be direct result of the volunteer activities. I'm more concerned with whether I can deduct the medical/vet expenses as that is the larger cost of the two. What would make it deductible?

[bwa]

Quite frankly, you're in a gray area.  If the dog isn't also a family pet and all it did was the therapy visits, I would have no problem with deducting all of those expenses.  However, if the dog goes out (for example) once a week and the remainder of the week is the family pet around the house, I don't see any deduction for medical and vet costs.  If the grooming is required pre-visit, that may be a deduction.

I''d like to be more specific but again, it's a gray area, and I can't recall ever seeing a case on point.

[Jellocat]

My dog is a licensed therapy dog who visits, through a non-profit pet therapy organization, hospitals, schools, etc. I understand that mileage to the places can be deductible under charity, but I also wonder about the grooming situation (as he has to be groomed before a visit) or any other items I buy through the organization (such as organization t-shirts, hats, badges, etc.) can be deducted through charity, as well? He does have allergy issues so I have vet bills to keep his allergies down so he can continue his visits. Is any of that deductible?

He's also an emotional support dog with a letter from a psychologist that helps me with my anxiety issues. But on top of that, he's also a pet. So how would I, or could I, deduct any of his expenses? And what expenses could I deduct? Would it be medical for the emotional support animal part, and if so, what items could be deducted there? This is confusing. 

[DaveF1006]

You can claim mileage expenses for the therapy dog but you cannot claim his/her grooming expenses. You also can't claim any expenses against the T-Shirts and badges because you received something in return for your purchase. You can only claim the expense if it was strictly out of pocket with nothing in return.

Now you can claim medical expenses for a service animal according to this IRS publication.  According to this link, "You can include in medical expenses the costs of buying, training, and maintaining a guide dog or other service animal to assist a visually impaired or hearing disabled person, or a person with other physical disabilities. In general, this includes any costs, such as food, grooming, and veterinary care, incurred in maintaining the health and vitality of the service animal so that it may perform its duties.

If your dog is classified as an emotional support animal, it may not be classified other service animal emotional distress as not the same as a physical disability. 

[Jellocat]

Thanks! What about dues paid to the pet therapy organization (it's a 501c(3))?

[LeonardS]

IRS Publication 502 - Medical Expenses:

"You can include in medical expenses the costs of buying, training, and maintaining a guide dog or other service animal to assist a visually impaired or hearing disabled person, or a person with other physical disabilities. In general, this includes any costs, such as food, grooming, and veterinary care, incurred in maintaining the health and vitality of the service animal so that it may perform its duties"

You would deduct your service dog medical expenses as an itemized deduction on Schedule A. Only medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income are deductible.   Dues are no longer deductible as an itemized expense.  If you do not itemize you cannot deduct the payments.

The standard deductions for 2019 are:

• Single - $12,200 add $1,650 if age 65 or older add.   

• Married Filing Separately - $12,200 add $1,300 if age 65 or older.  

• Married Filing Jointly - $24,400 add $1,300 for each spouse age 65 or older.    

• Head of Household - $18,350 add $1,650 if age 65 or older.