[nagdu] Does anyone know if you can claim your guide dog

Steve Johnson stevencjohnson at centurytel.net
Wed Feb 17 00:43:34 UTC 2010


You may want to read this post again as it does contain good info and 
specific to what is being discussed...

Cheryl,
I have provided this link and information to individuals I work with found
on the disaboom website as it summarizes things nicely:

http://www.disaboom.com/disability-finances/tax

-deductions-for-people-with-disabilities

People with disabilities often have a much greater range of potential
expenses to deduct when tax time rolls around. As is the case for other
taxpayers, expenses must exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income
(AGI) to be deductible.  (For example, if you have an AGI of $40,000, your
annual medical expenses must total $3,000 or more to be deductible.)

If your medical and dental expenses for the year have exceeded the 7.5
percent requirement, however, there are many items that qualify as
deductions.

For starters, consider these medical expenses:
. All expenses related to prosthetics
. Braille books and magazines for the visually impaired
. Special equipment installed in the home (includes widening and moving
stairways, special ramps/motorized ramps for homes with stairs)
. Special hand controls and other adaptive equipment for car if taxpayer has
a disability
. Chiropractor care
. Contact lenses (including saline solution and enzyme cleaner)
. Crutches
. Dental care
. Diagnostic services
. Service dogs and/or other animals (including training and maintenance)
. Health institutes (must have a statement from a doctor)
. Hearing aids
. Inpatient care
. Insurance premiums
. Lodging and meals at a hospital and/or institution
. Long term care
. Medical conferences that focus on information about a chronic illness
. Nursing homes
. Nursing services
. Oxygen
. Psychiatric care
. Psychologist
. Special educational expenses
. TTY and TDD equipment
. Cost of equipment for special televisions
. Therapy
. Mileage to and from treatment (at a rate of 20 cents/mile)
. Transplants
. Medical expenses for weight loss (see 4 below)
. Wigs (purchased on the advice of a physician)
. Weight loss expenses related to a directive from your physician to lose
weight
. Specific treatments for weight-related diseases diagnosed by a physician

In addition to these medical and dental expenses, you may also be able to
deduct some home improvement expenses, under the following circumstances:
. The main purpose of the home improvement must be for medical care

. The cost of improvement is offset by the increased value of the home (for
example: your improvements cost $5,000 and the value of your home increased
from $143,000 to $145,000, which means the improvements increased the value
of the home by $2,000. The deductible expenses will be $3,000, or the
difference between the amount you paid for improvements and the amount those
improvements increased your home's value.

And what about car deductions? The expenses incurred when retrofitting or
adapting a vehicle can be substantial, so it's wise to pay attention to the
tax impacts here.

Specifically, you may deduct:
. The difference between the cost of a regular car and a car designed to
hold a wheelchair (for example, if a regular van costs $15,000 and you
purchase an adapted van that will hold your wheel chair for $26,000, you may
deduct the $11,000 difference between the two).

. Special hand controls and other special equipment

So, with all of the expenses that are deductible, what is not deductible?  A
general rule of thumb is that if something's a necessary part of your life
and the expense is recommended by a physician, it's a deductible expense.

And remember: it's a good idea to always keep and be able to produce all the
documentation related to any deductible expense. You may need to provide
this documentation during an audit; if you don't have your receipts and
other documentation, the expense could be denied, resulting in having to
repay the original amount deducted plus penalties and interest to the IRS.

Still unsure of what you can and can't deduct? Then check out the IRS
website at  http://www.irs.gov/; the publication for medical expenses is
Publication 502, found on the website under "Forms and Publications."






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