First off, if you are itemizing your deductions, you can deduct your out-of-pocket medical and dental expenses.
These expenses should be qualified expenses and not categorized as cosmetic procedures or items.
The IRS states that qualified medical and dental expenses are payments for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or payments for treatments affecting any structure or function of the body.
You can deduct the number of expenses that are subject to a percentage of your adjusted gross income (AGI). For instance, this year, you may deduct only the amount of your total medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your AGI.
The IRS allows you to deduct the following expenses:
- Fees for doctors, dentists, surgeons, chiropractors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and nontraditional medical practitioners
- Inpatient hospital care or residential nursing home care
- Acupuncture treatments
- Inpatient treatment for alcohol or drug addiction
- Smoking-cessation program and for drugs to alleviate nicotine withdrawal
- Weight-loss program for diseases diagnosed by a physician, including obesity (excluding diet food items or health club dues)
- Insulin and other required prescriptions
- Admission and transportation to a medical conference relating to chronic illness of you, your spouse, or your dependent (excluding costs for meals and lodging)
- False teeth, reading or prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs, and for a guide dog or other service animal to assist a visually impaired/hearing disabled person or a person with other physical disabilities
- Fare for a taxi, bus, train, ambulance, or for transportation by personal car; the amount of your actual out-of-pocket expenses such as for gas, oil, tolls, parking; or the amount of the standard mileage rate for essential medical expenses
- Insurance premiums you paid for policies that cover medical care or for a qualified long-term care insurance policy covering long-term care services (Excluding premiums paid by your employer)
