Taxpayer asks:
Hi Taxgirl,
My health insurance doesn’t cover the cost of my birth control. I am trying to decide between pills and an IUD. Would either or both of them be tax deductible?
taxgirl says:
You can only deduct qualifying medical expenses for federal income tax purposes. Qualifying medical expenses include the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and the costs for treatments affecting any part or function of the body. These include visits to medical professionals as well as any medicine or drug which requires a prescription of a physician for legal use.
Under that definition, birth control pills are clearly deductible and are called out as deductible in IRS Publication 502. And while the IRS used to reference “contraceptive devices” in Publication 502, I can’t find that term anymore. Instead, the focus is on legal medical drugs and procedures for non-cosmetic purposes that would require the services of a physician. By definition, that would include an IUD, as well as Norplant and similar implantables. It also includes the costs of sterilization for women and vasectomies for men.
Not all methods of birth control will qualify for the deduction. Condoms and sponges, for example, are not deductible since they are available not by prescription but over the counter. Non-prescription items – no matter how much you think they’re necessary – are considered “personal use items” and are not deductible.
Keep in mind that medical expenses are only deductible if you itemize your deductions on a Schedule A. For 2012, you can only deduct those qualifying expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (line 37 of your form 1040).
Let me give you an example. Let’s say you have $5,000 of medical expenses and your AGI is $40,000. You can deduct $2,000 on your Schedule A. The math is as follows: 7.5% of $40,000 is $3,000. That $3,000 is considered your “floor” and you can only deduct the expenses which are greater than that number. Since you had $5,000 in expenses, your deduction is limited to $2,000 or $5,000 less $3,000.
As an aside, you might want to double-check with your insurer to make sure that birth control is excluded from coverage. Under the new health care law, many insurers were, as of August 2012, required to cover the cost of most FDA-approved birth control prescribed by a doctor (but not abortifacient drugs).
Before you go: be sure to read my disclaimer. Remember, I’m a lawyer and we love disclaimers.
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