Medical expenses can be costly — and they’re not always covered by insurance. But there may be a silver lining: You may be able to claim an itemized deduction for the amounts you pay for medical, dental and vision care, if you incur enough costs to exceed the applicable threshold for the tax year. Here are the details about this deduction.
Raising the Bar on Medical Expense Deductions
You can claim an itemized deduction for medical, dental, and vision care expenses paid for you, your spouse and your dependents, to the extent those expenses exceeded 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Filing a joint return isn’t necessary to take advantage of this provision based on the age of your spouse.
Deducting Expenses Paid for Supported Relatives
Do you pay medical expenses for a dependent parent, grandparent or adult child? If so, you can add those expenses to your own for itemized deduction purposes. For a person to be your dependent, you must pay over half of his or her support for the year.
If you pass the support test, you can add medical expenses you paid for the supported person to your own expenses for purposes of clearing the applicable AGI hurdle for medical expense write-offs. This is true even if you can’t claim a dependent exemption deduction for the supported person on your return because he or she has too much income.
What if you pay medical expenses for someone but don’t supply over half of his or her support for the year? In that case, you can’t combine that person’s medical expenses with your own for medical expense deduction purposes.
Counting Insurance Premiums
For itemized medical expense deduction purposes, you can include premiums paid for medical, dental and vision-care insurance. You can also include premiums paid for Medicare Parts A, B and D coverage and for Medigap policies. Finally, you can include premiums paid for qualified long-term care insurance policies, subject to the following age-based limits in 2023 (and 2022), which are adjusted annually for inflation:
| Maximum Amount Treated as Medical Expense | ||
| Age at Dec. 31 of Tax Year | 2023 | |
| 40 or under | $480 | (in 2022, $450) |
| 41 to 50 | $890 | (in 2022, $850) |
| 51 to 60 | $1,790 | (in 2022 $1,690) |
| 61 to 70 | $4,770 | (in 2022, $4,510) |
| Over 70 | $5,960 | (in 2022, $5,640) |
Getting the Most from Your Medical Expense Deductions
IRS rules regarding medical expense deductions have changed. For most taxpayers, it now takes more dental, medical and vision expenses than before to meet the AGI thresholds for these items. Whenever possible, try to pack as many doctor visits and non-emergency procedures into a single year, especially if it’s questionable whether or not you’ll meet the applicable AGI threshold.
IRS-Approved Medical Expenses
Here’s a list of some common items that the IRS accepts as deductible medical expenses:
| Ambulance Acupuncture Artificial limb Artificial teeth Bandages Braille books and magazines Chiropractor Christian Science practitioner Crutches Dental care Diagnostic devices Eyeglasses Eye surgery Guide dog Hearing aid Hospitalization Insulin | Laboratory fees Long-term care services Nursing home Nursing services Operation Optometrist Osteopath Oxygen Psychiatric care Psychoanalysis Stop smoking program Therapy Transplant Transportation to receive medical care Wheelchair X-rays |
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Councilor, Buchanan & Mitchell (CBM) is a professional services firm delivering tax, accounting and business advisory expertise throughout the Mid-Atlantic region from offices in Bethesda, MD and Washington, DC.
