Tax deductions

[WildBlueYonder]

Yes its too early to think about it but

I was just sorting receipts
and I thought

if you can deduct medicinal OTC items

why can’t I deduct the granola bars I have to keep in my purse in case my sugar falls

and

why not deducting Gatorade for the husband who has to refill his electrolytes?

Just saying…

[dracoi]

Most* OTC medical items are not allowed as a tax deduction.
*The pedantic in the crowd may feel free to read this as “some” if they prefer.

In general, a deduction is allowed only for an expense meant to treat a particular medical condition under a doctor’s orders. Many OTC health expenses are disallowed as a deduction because they’re taken to prevent something that is not yet a problem (for example, most people take vitamins purely as a precaution, not as a treatment for a diagnosed condition). I have heard at educational events the example that taking iron supplements to *treat *anemia is deductible, but taking iron supplements to *prevent *anemia is not.

Which may seem a little hypocritical, but if you allow deductions for purely preventative items, then virtually every item of food and wardrobe becomes deductible as a prevention for malnutrition and frostbite at the very least.

[BlackKnight]

I didn’t think you could deduct over the counter medicines?

@IRS

You may not deduct funeral or burial expenses, over-the-counter medicines, toothpaste, toiletries, cosmetics, a trip or program for the general improvement of your health, or most cosmetic surgery.

Source
As for deductions, I don’t understand why businesses get to deduct so many different expenses whereas individuals get relatively few. For example, a business can deduct:

@IRS

Expenses for spouses. You generally cannot deduct the cost of entertainment for your spouse or for the spouse of a customer. However, you can deduct these costs if you can show you had a clear business purpose, rather than a personal or social purpose, for providing the entertainment.

Example.
You entertain a customer. The cost is an ordinary and necessary business expense and is allowed under the entertainment rules. The customer’s spouse joins you because it is impractical to entertain the customer without the spouse. You can deduct the cost of entertaining the customer’s spouse. If your spouse joins the party because the customer’s spouse is present, the cost of the entertainment for your spouse is also deductible.

I’m not a tax lawyer, but I suspect “impractical to entertain the customer without the spouse” could be as easy as “the customer said, ‘Hey, can my husband come along?’ and you figured you shouldn’t say ‘no’ to a customer”.

[WildBlueYonder]

maybe the rules have changed…or maybe its a state thing

[Bill_Door]

Even if they were deductible you can only deduct those medical expenses exceeded 10% of your adjusted gross income. 7.5% if you or your spouse are 65 years of age or older. That’s a lot of granola bars.

[thelurkinghorror]

Apparently you can deduct insulin?

@Bill_Door

Even if they were deductible you can only deduct those medical expenses exceeded 10% of your adjusted gross income. 7.5% if you or your spouse are 65 years of age or older. That’s a lot of granola bars.

True, although you can also get a tax-beneficial reduction in taxable income if you put into a HSA, FSA, or HRA. Generally speaking, you cannot pay for OTC meds with this type of account. You could in the past (looks like before 1-1-2011). Also, a doctor can write a prescription for otherwise OTC meds and you can use the HSA for those.

[WildBlueYonder]

@Bill_Door

Even if they were deductible you can only deduct those medical expenses exceeded 10% of your adjusted gross income. 7.5% if you or your spouse are 65 years of age or older. That’s a lot of granola bars.

oh i know…every little bit counts! Used to be I could do the long version with mostly just the mortgage interest…interest was so high!

[LSLGuy]

@dracoi

… Which may seem a little hypocritical, but if you allow deductions for purely preventative items, then virtually every item of food and wardrobe becomes deductible as a prevention for malnutrition and frostbite at the very least.

I recall a great Mad Magazine cartoon from the 70s:

The character is getting an IRS audit. The auditor looks up from his pileof paper and says “Mr. Smith, I[me going to have to disallow this $4,000 deduction for restaurant meals”. Mr. Smith replies with an anguished look & a wail: “But if I don’t eat I’ll get sick!!!”

[LSLGuy]

@BlackKnight

… As for deductions, I don’t understand why businesses get to deduct so many different expenses whereas individuals get relatively few. …

The deep doctrinal point is that businesses are taxed on their profit. So any expense that detracts from profit, but is still legitimately made in furtherance of additional sales should be (and generally is) a tax deduction.

Individuals are taxed on their income. Minus some fairly fixed allowances for the fact that some degree of spending is essential to living a normal life.

Beyond that, almost all tax deductions are really just an alternate way to deliver a subsidy for the particular activity. IOW, home mortgages are deductible as a way to subsidize home ownership. Credit card interest is not deductible because Congress didn’t want to subsidize that. Medical deductions for prescription meds are a way to reduce the net cost to the consumer, i.e. to subsidize them as a way to universalize / socialize some (small) part of some medical costs.

To be sure, a lot of politics muddies the doctrinal picture. One man’s “legitimate deduction” is another man’s “unconscionable loophole”.

And for all practical purposes the tax code is strictly additive. Over the years new provisions get added, but very little gets subtracted. So the doctrinal underpinnings get especially hard to divine when you’re looking at overlapping layers of deductions and limitations (i.e. anti-deductions) pulling in opposite directions.