When can VSG be claimed on taxes?

[Garyb_58 1]

As far as claiming the surgery on your taxes I saw a Tax Professional

on one of the morning news shows saying that you can claim the surgery

as long as it was by doctors orders. He said people are claiming it when

they have elected to have it done and that cannot be claimed on your taxes.

If anyone knows more about this please respond. I just sharing what I heard

which if that is the cases it leaves me out since I did not wait to get doctors

orders to have it done.

Also what about those of us who went out of the Country to have surgery?

Gary

[Edit] [Reply] [!!]

[kkandrod 1]

Gary, my mom does taxes/bookeeping and for medical expenses, doctor ordered, you can take whatever the amount of the expenses are that are above 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income. And you have to be able to itemize, which means you have to have enough other deductions that amount to more than your standard deductions you are given on a 1040 form. So if you have that, and the surgery is doctor ordered and your medical expenses are more than 7.5% than your adjusted gross income, then you can take it. For instance, you earn $100,000 AGI this year. 7.5% of that would be $7,500. Whatever your cost for medical expenses alone are ABOVE the $7,500 is the deduction you get to take. Hope that makes sense, LOL

[Garyb_58 1]

Thanks kkandrod,

So I guess the key here again is doctor ordered. Oh well just my luck.

[pumpkin07 32]

seems like the surgeon could write it as he is a doc, just backdate

[WeekendWarrior 0]

I would think that it is always doctor ordered as the Dr. who did it thought it was medically necessary, or they wouldn't have done it.

[kkandrod 1]

Not necessarily, Warrior. If he went to Mexico, that could be a whole different ballgame. Not knocking the Mexico surgeons because I don't have any knowledge on them so this is just a question....Have they ever turned someone away from surgery because it wasn't "medically necessary"? If they have certain criteria that have to be met before they'll consider doing surgery on you then, it might be ok. But, then you still have the whole "out of country" issue to figure out on if that's allowable or not. When I called my mom to ask her, I got the number details but then she had to run out before she had a chance to dig around and find out about having medical procedures out of the country and if they still counted or not.

And remember, you can't take medical expenses alone. You have to have the other deductions to qualify you to itemize period, only then do you get to take the amount of the medical expenses that are over the 7.5% of your AGI. But, mileage is in there too somewhere. I'll have to ask about that, if medical mileage can only be taken if you are able to take medical expenses or if you get to take that regardless if you are filing long form. I know one year we had a tremendous amount of out of pocket medical expenses that we took and just the mileage alone got us hundreds of $$$'s in deductions because all of our doctors were 2 hours away with many, many visits that year. That was a rough year in itself so getting to take those deductions helped our feelings in a major way.

[WeekendWarrior 0]

Here's the rules if you want to read them.

Publication 502 (2009), Medical and Dental Expenses

Since you are having surgery to prevent or cure obesity, then it is a valid expense.

[MlkPas 5]

I was just going to post the same IRS publication. Weight loss treatments are deductible if they are incurred to prevent or treat a specific disease diagnosed by a physician. "Obesity" is one of the specific diseases mentioned by the IRS, not to mention any co-morbidities you may have. I would think Dr. Aceves wouldn't operate on you if he didn't diagnose you as "obese." So you should be good to go.

I think what the person on the TV show probably meant was that any weight loss expenses, up to and including WLS, are NOT deductible if they are only to "improve your general health or appearance." E.g. a boob lift or any other cosmetic surgery done purely for cosmetic purposes is not deductible. On the other hand, if you have very large breasts that are causing a medical condition, such as back pain, that has been diagnosed by a doctor, then a breast reduction to treat that medical condition may be deductible. Same thing for sagging skin after weight loss -- if it's just unsightly, plastic surgery to remove it isn't deductible. But if, for example, you're getting rashes (diagnosed by a doctor) caused by the loose skin folds, the surgery to remove the loose skin can be deductible because it's necessary to treat the rashes.

Same with WLS. I don't know anybody who's had WLS who isn't at least a BMI of 30, which is the cutoff for "obese," which is a diagnosable disease per the IRS. I am quite sure Dr. Aceves or any doctor would be happy to give you paperwork stating that your WLS was performed in order to treat the disease of obesity. If you have comorbidities, those would probably be on the paperwork, too.

In the alternate universe in which somebody with a BMI of, say, 25 and no other health problems were able to talk a doctor into performing a VSG so he or she would NEVER get fat, that probably wouldn't be deductible.

I don't see anything in the IRS publication that limits medical expenses to those incurred within the U.S.

So don't panic. Read the IRS publication and you'll feel better.

Edited March 30, 2010 by MlkPas

[kkandrod 1]

Thanks MlkPas and Warrior for posting that link! I think that will help a lot of us!! I didn't find anywhere in there either where the money had to be spent in the US to be deductible so hopefully that works out for Gary!!

I think that deduction is awesome for those that had to self pay!!