The medical expense deduction is large enough to cover pregnancy tests, braille books, and smoking cessation programs. However, it doesn't cover everything you pay to stay healthy. Most items authorized by the IRS involve professional medical services or medically necessary purchases, such as prescription drugs. Things that are only for good health (low-calorie meals, exercise) are generally not allowed.
What Are the Tax Deductible Weight Loss Costs?
You can deduct weight loss as a form of medical expense if the goal is to treat a certain condition diagnosed by a doctor, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, or heart disease. When you are in the process of trying to lose weight because your doctor has prescribed weight loss to treat a particular condition, you can deduct several related expenses, including the costs of attending weight loss meetings and weight loss programs. If there are specific groups of weight loss exercises in the gym, you can deduct those programs' costs, but not the gym membership's cost. And if your doctor prescribes specific foods to treat your condition but which otherwise don't meet your normal nutritional needs, you can deduct the difference between the cost of those foods and the cost of regular foods.
What Weight Loss Expenses Are Not Tax Deductible?
If you want to lose weight to improve your appearance or general health, the associated costs are not tax-deductible. According to the IRS, the doctor must prescribe weight loss to cure a certain disease, to be considered a medical expense.
Regardless of whether a doctor prescribed weight loss, it is impossible to claim a spa, gym, or health club membership as medical expenses. If you replace less healthy foods with ones that meet the same nutritional needs, you cannot deduct the food's cost. For example, Weight Watchers meals are not tax-deductible because they are simply substitutes for other foods.
How Much Can be Deducted?
You can solely deduct medical expenses if they represent more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. If you are eligible to deduct weight loss expenses using these guidelines, please use Form 1040, Schedule A, to report the costs. Please, be sure to keep all receipts and copies of notes and prescriptions for your records, as this will help prove that expenses incurred during the weight loss are considered a tax-deductible expense.
Is it Possible to Deduct Necessary Medical Transport?
It is allowed to deduct transportation costs related to medical expenses. For instance, if a doctor asks you to participate in a weight loss program, you can deduct travel costs from the program location. There are two ways to go about this: using the standard medical mileage rate or deducting the actual expenses. In any case, it is vital to keep track of the number of kilometers driven for medical expenses and the costs you have to bear, including fuel and oil, parking, and taxes. It cannot include insurance or depreciation.
The standard medical mileage rate for medical expenses is 17 cents per mile. You can choose to deduct actual costs or the standard mileage rate, whichever is greater. Please note that medical transportation costs are not deductible unless the total medical costs exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income.
So, are weight loss programs tax deductible? Program costs and related expenses are tax-deductible if prescribed by a physician to treat a particular disease. Therefore, you should consider speaking with your doctor before starting any weight loss program and see if your specific health condition requires weight loss. You can improve your health by deducting tax expenditures. And this is how weight loss can be a win-win situation.
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