What is a medical expense for tax purposes is quite broad. Taxpayers try to write off swimming pools, vacations, medical marijuana, spa visits and patio awnings, sometimes with success. See Tax Breaks For Alcoholics, But Not Weight Watchers. But some of it seems downright bizarre, as where the IRS ruled a mother with a double-mastectomy could not deduct the cost of her baby’s formula as a medical expense. See Private Letter Ruling 200941003. Although this baby’s need for formula was clear, the formula satisfied the child’s food needs and the child was normal, so there was no deduction. More understandably, the IRS and Tax Court said no to deducting the cost of prostitutes as medical expenses. In Halby v. Commissioner, a 78 year old lawyer claimed deductions for therapeutic treatments by prostitutes. He didn’t even have a doctor’s note! Yet he deducted these (oldest profession) professional fees and the cost of pornography. With no medical diagnosis for this “cure” and a self-prescribed treatment that was illegal, the Tax Court said no.
Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 12:47PM 