Renee, trip to doctor not deductible?

Hi Renee,

I appreciate you keeping us all honest and not commit tax fraud by trying to deduct the installation cost of a phone jack for medical purposes. I used to be an auditor for a very large company and I had seen it all. Thanks to us auditors we kept everyone honest! LOL

You did, however, make a comment to Pacergirl that trips to the doctor are not deductible and I just want to clarify that they are in case anyone is confused.

I copied the following from the irs.gov website:

-You may deduct transportation costs primarily for and essential to medical care that qualify as medical expenses. The actual fare for a taxi, bus, train, or ambulance can be deducted. If you use your car for medical transportation, you can deduct actual out-of-pocket expenses such as gas and oil, or you can deduct the standard mileage rate for medical expenses. With either method you may include tolls and parking fees.

You may include in medical expenses the incidental cost of meals and lodging charged by a hospital or similar institution if your principal reason for being there is to receive medical care.

You may deduct only the amount by which your total medical care expenses for the year exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. You do this calculation on Form 1040 Schedule A in computing the amount deductible. -

If anyone wants to know more about which medical/dental associated expenses are deductible go to this
irs page link (I'm just not at the momment sure what the actual mileage allowance is for 2010 for medical)

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc502.html



3 Comments

Thank you

by pacergirl - 2010-03-26 05:03:52

Thanks heartu, I was beginning to feel as if I were being scolded for asking a question about medical expenses. I will be happy to read the references you mention and I will keep in mind that things changes quickly in the tax world and if we don't ask we will never know. I was just curious about medical expenses.
Thank you,
PG

Thank You!

by tcrabtree85 - 2010-03-27 04:03:00

Thank you for the explaining this. It really helps more of us out than you think. I for one will be looking into the gas cost. I go to the Dr often not all of us our lucky and get to go only 3 times a year. I go at least one time a month if not 2 times just to the heart Dr. I also see my regular GP once a month his office is 30 mins away so is my heart Dr. Visiting does add up. So thank you so much for the info I plan on looking into it more closely.
Renee, I would like to explain Merlin to you and how it is different. I have the Merlin b/c it is needed. While I am sleeping it will send a report into my Dr showing what my heart is doing. If there is a problem the Dr can call me in. I will still go for sometime once a month to see him but after a while it will hopefully not be as often. I feel that you are comparing it to the other monitoring systems as this is different. I'm still learning about it myself but do feel it is different than my other in home device was. I have to have this right next to me.
I appreciate all the feedback and all the info.

Thank you!
Tammy

count whateveryou can

by ro - 2010-04-01 11:04:43

My husband and I did not used to bother with deductions for medical as we have excellent insurance coverage and figured we'd never pass the 7.5%, however in the last two years we have calculated our part of the premiums, co-pays (even though each one is small, there are a lot for meds), mileage to doctors appts, pharmacy, etc. and found that we did in fact go over the 7.5. If you multitask when going to the doctor or pharmacy, just go to Mapquest to find the actual mileage to the dedutable destination and use that number for your mileage deduction.

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