While digging though past court cases and IRS memos, we found these three surprising instances where medical deductions were allowed for not-so medical expenses:
- Mis-lead – A taxpayer, who’s child who was treated for lead poisoning, was allowed a medical expense deduction for the costs associated with scraping and removing lead paint from the taxpayer’s home.
- A deduction for man’s best friend? – The IRS considers the costs associated with buying, training, and maintaining a guide dog to assist a visually impaired, hearing impaired, or persons with other physical disabilities, a medical expense. This includes 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.
- Refreshing news – The IRS has allowed medical deductions for the costs associated with installing swimming pools as long as the pool was directly related to medical care and specially designed for medical purposes. Some of the diseases that were covered in previous cases included osteoarthritis, emphysema, bronchitis, and degenerative spinal problems among others.
Moral of the story – the are some strange deductions out there! If you have questions about the deductible nature of specific expenses, contact our office so we can research your situation further.