Yes! You Can Take   

These Tax Deductions in 2015!   

Crazy as it sounds you can include the following items in figuring your expense deductions. This list does not include all possible expenses so be sure to ask your tax professional if an expense not listed can be included in figuring your expense deductions.    

Bingo Losses

The bad news is that  your bingo winnings are fully taxable income.  But the good news is that you can claim gambling losses up to the amount of your winnings as an itemized deduction.

Weight-Loss Programs

If you have been diagnosed by your doctor with a specific disease such as heart disease, hypertension, or obesity and you've incurred expenses related to losing weight, you can deduct the expenses as long as the treatments are for that specific diagnosed disease.

Breast Enlargement

No, you can't include optional cosmetic surgeries in your deductible medical expenses but you can include the amount you pay for breast reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy because it's considered medically necessary to fix a deformity related to a disfiguring disease.

Pregnancy Tests.

Many expenses related to having or not having children are deductible, assuming your overall medical expenses exceed the allowed percentage of your gross income . You can include the amount you paid to buy a pregnancy test kit, the same way you can with a legal abortion, sterilization, prescribed birth control pills , or breast pumps.  

Wigs

As a medical expense, you can include the cost of wigs if your doctor recommends them for your mental health after losing your hair to disease.  

Programs to Stop Smoking

Any prescribed program to help you stop smoking qualifies as a deductible medical expense. This does not include non-prescribed items such as nicotine gum or patches.

Clarinet Lessons

The IRS has allowed people with an overbite to deduct clarinet lessons if used to treat the dental condition and if the lessons have been prescribed by their physician.

Pet Moving

In addition to deducting moving expenses related to your employment you can also deduct the cost of shipping your household pets 

 Uniforms

If your employment requires work clothes that aren't suitable for everyday use you can deduct the cost and upkeep of work clothes. Health care workers, law enforcement personnel, delivery workers, firefighters, and professional athletes can some example of who can use this deduction. Musicians and entertainers can also deduct the cost of job-specific theatrical clothing and accessories. 

Qualified Medical Expenses   

Death before age 65.

For example, consider a taxpayer who was born on February 14, 1949 and who dies on February 13, 2014.  The taxpayer is considered age 65 at the time of death and the 7.5% threshold applies.  However, if the taxpayer died on February 12, 2014, the taxpayer is not considered age 65 and the 7.5% threshold does not apply.

Example:  

You are unmarried and were born after January 2, 1950, and your AGI is $40,000, 10% of which is $4,000. You paid medical expenses of $2,500. You cannot deduct any of your medical expenses because they are not more than 10% of your AGI.      

Whose Medical Expenses Can You Include?

You can generally include medical expenses you pay for yourself, as well as those you pay for someone who was your spouse or your dependent either when the services were provided or when you paid for them - i.e qualifying child, adopted child, qualifying relative.

There are different rules for decedents and for individuals who are the subject of multiple support agreements.  

What Medical Expenses Are Includible?

The following is a partial list of items that you can include in figuring your medical expense deduction. This list does not include all possible medical expenses. Check with your tax professional for further details related to the expenses below or to determine if an expense not listed can be included in figuring your medical expense deduction.

• Acupuncture
• Ambulance
• Artificial Teeth
• Braille Books and Magazines
• Contact Lenses, equipment and materials for using contact lenses
• Crutches
• Drug Addiction
• Eye Exam and Eyeglasses
• Eye Surgery to treat defective vision 
• Fertility Enhancement
• Hearing Aids
• Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled, Special Home for
  • You can include in medical expenses the cost of keeping a person who is intellectually and developmentally disabled in a special home (not the home of a relative) on the recommendation of a psychiatrist to help the person adjust from life in a mental hospital to community living.
• Lead-Based Paint Removal
  • You can include in medical expenses the cost of removing lead-based paints from surfaces in your home to prevent a child who has or had lead poisoning from eating the paint. These surfaces must be in poor repair (peeling or cracking) or within the child's reach. The cost of repainting the scraped area is not a medical expense.
• Legal Fees
  • You can include in medical expenses legal fees you paid that are necessary to authorize treatment for mental illness. However, you cannot include in medical expenses fees for the management of a guardianship estate, fees for conducting the affairs of the person being treated, or other fees that are not necessary for medical care.
• Dependents with disabilities
  • You can include in medical expenses advance payments to a private institution for lifetime care, treatment, and training of your physically or mentally impaired child upon your death or when you become unable to provide care. The payments must be a condition for the institution's future acceptance of your child and must not be refundable.
• Long-Term Care
  • You can include in medical expenses amounts paid for qualified long-term care services and premiums paid for qualified long-term care insurance contracts.
• Nursing Home
  • You can include in medical expenses the cost of medical care in a nursing home, home for the aged, or similar institution, for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents. This includes the cost of meals and lodging in the home if a principal reason for being there is to get medical care.
  • Do not include the cost of meals and lodging if the reason for being in the home is personal. You can, however, include in medical expenses the part of the cost that is for medical or nursing care.
• Psychiatric Care
  • You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for psychiatric care. This includes the cost of supporting a mentally ill dependent at a specially equipped medical center where the dependent receives medical care.
• Psychoanalysis and Psychologist
  • You can include in medical expenses payments for psychoanalysis. However, you cannot include payments for psychoanalysis that is part of required training to be a psychoanalyst.
  • You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to a psychologist for medical care.
• Special Education
  • You can include in medical expenses fees you pay on a doctor's recommendation for a child's tutoring by a teacher who is specially trained and qualified to work with children who have learning disabilities caused by mental or physical impairments, including nervous system disorders.
  • You can include in medical expenses the cost (tuition, meals, and lodging) of attending a school that furnishes special education to help a child to overcome learning disabilities. A doctor must recommend that the child attend the school. Overcoming the learning disabilities must be a principal reason for attending the school, and any ordinary education received must be incidental to the special education provided. Special education includes:

• Teaching Braille to a visually impaired person,
• Teaching lip reading to a hearing disabled person, or
• Giving remedial language training to correct a condition caused by a birth defect.

We have listed the most common to the most unusual medical tax deductions you can take.  Speak to a tax professional  - you may be surprised to discover that you can claim an itemized medical expense deduction when you thought you could not.    

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