Posts tagged as:

medical deductions

Back to School: Special Food Needs

8 September 2011

The snack lists have already come home from school (my first parent snack day is September 22 – someone remind me so that I don’t become that mom who forgets). Snack day is a lot more tricky these days than in the past. I’m sure you’re thinking of the obvious reason but as a mom, [...]

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Winehouse Death Renews Debate About Addiction and Choice

30 July 2011

The death of Amy Winehouse made headlines everywhere. Winehouse’s career was short but brilliant; her life was similarly short but controversial. By all accounts, she drank too much, partied too hard and did too many drugs. And sadly, at the age of 27, her body simply couldn’t take it any more. Much has been written [...]

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Deduct This: The History of the Medical Expenses Deduction

20 June 2011

When you ask most taxpayers about available tax deductions, the deduction for medical expenses immediately springs to mind. It’s probably one of the most talked about deductions (in fact, a fairly significant portion of the questions submitted to the blog by taxpayers focus on the medical expenses) but the reality is that very few taxpayers [...]

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IRS Okays Breastfeeding Supplies as Medical Expenses (but won’t agree that breast is best)

11 February 2011

Is the IRS stepping its toes even further into the breastfeeding versus bottle fray? This week, the IRS announced that, effective as of the 2010 tax year, mothers who breastfeed can get a tax break. Under the change in policy, taxpayers may now use pretax dollars in their FSAs (flexible spending accounts) to cover the [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Foreign Medical Expenses

30 January 2011

Taxpayer asks: at 5’4″ and 235# i was definately diagnoised with morbid obesity.. pre-diabetic and had BMI of 40.3. My choice of surgeons was one in Mexico.. my insurance would not cover his fees.. which.. even if I would have chosen one in the US and filed insurance claim.. I would have paid more out [...]

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The A, B, C and Ds of Medicare

25 January 2011

Here’s your big disclaimer upfront: I’m not a Medicare guru. I don’t work for Medicare. I don’t receive Medicare. But I do know enough to see that there’s some pretty awful information floating around which has lead to some confusion on the tax side. Let me see if I can help sort some of it [...]

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Self-Employed Folks Get a (Tax) Break

25 September 2010

As the debate over health care and health care costs continued to draw attention, it appeared as if the smallest of businesses, those who are self-employed, were being ignored. Most of the health care related tax breaks and credits have been focused on businesses with employees but those who are self-employed or primarily family owned [...]

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Just Say No: Pot Not Allowed as Medical Expense

4 August 2010

While the use of marijuana for medical reasons remains controversial, it’s becoming more mainstream. Currently, 14 states and DC have legalized medical marijuana in some form (you can check out the details here). That’s pretty interesting in and of itself since marijuana remains illegal for federal purposes. From a tax perspective, the legality of medical [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Relaxation Tapes

13 May 2010

Taxpayer asks: I have a stressful situation at my work and I haven’t been able to sleep. I went to my doctor and he told me to buy some relaxation tapes. Can I deduct those? Taxgirl says: I can totally sympathize with you. I couldn’t sleep more than a couple of hours during my first [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Deducting Tolls

12 April 2010

Taxpayer asks: Thank you for an interesting blog. The dictionary defines tolls as taxes. Are they deductible like property taxes, or only for business purposes? Taxgirl says: What a really interesting question! I did a little bit of research and tolls seem to be treated by the IRS as user fees and therefore, not deductible [...]

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