I've had elective surgery and spent a rather large sum. I was wondering if I can claim it on my income taxes

Question

Although the surgery was elective it will have a major impact on my well being and acutally and save me money on drugs I take in the future.

Answer 1

You can always try... just keep the receipts..

Good Luck!

Answer 2

It depends. If it was to cure a disease or repair an injury or correct a defect or to enable normal biological function then it generally is deductible.

Merely being classified as "elective" doesn't automatically bar the deduction. Surgery is generally considered elective if it isn't needed to immediately preserve life or limb. Even so, a procedure considered elective today could deteriorate into a situation where it was no longer considered elective.

Certain procedures that are considered purely cosmetic in nature are generally not tax deductible but there are exceptions to that as well. For example, a stripper won her case in Tax Court for breast augmentation since it was directly related to the production of taxable income. A librarian probably would have trouble establishing that link unless of course her "night job" was swinging on the pole.

Without knowing all of the details, it's not possible to say if your procedure is deductible.

Answer 3

No, I'm sorry. You need to have had the surgery for medical reasons related to your job/work. Electing to have the surgery to ease your personal life is not valid enough for the lovely people at the IRS. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

You can as long as it was for health reasons and not strictly cosmetic, if you have enough itemized deductions to itemize. You can only deduct the amount of your total medical expenses that's over 7.5% of your income.

If you don't itemize, you can't deduct the expenses.

Answer 5

doubtful, but more information on the type of surgery might be helpful.

Answer 6

Nope! Not likely.