Lewes CPA
officeProgar & Company, P.A.
Certified Public Accounting services for businesses and individuals
Cost of smoking-cessation program as medical expense (MS Word)
Cost of smoking-cessation program as medical expense (.pdf)
Cost of smoking-cessation program as medical expense
Dear Reader:
You asked whether you can deduct the cost of a program to help you
stop smoking. You can. IRS has ruled that the cost of participating
in a smoking-cessation program is deductible as a medical expense.
You can deduct smoking-cessation expenses even if you are
healthy—there's no requirement that you be diagnosed as having a
specific disease. Nor do you need your doctor's approval to
participate in such a program. (But you will need a prescription to
deduct any drugs you take to alleviate the effects of nicotine
withdrawal. Thus, you won't be able to deduct the costs of
non-prescription nicotine gum or nicotine patches.)
If you are taking a smoking-cessation program this year or plan to
take one in the future you can add the costs of the program to your
other medical expenses in determining whether you have enough total
medical expenses to itemize. Since you can elect when to incur the
costs, you have the opportunity to wait until you incur enough other
medical expenses so your total will be high enough to itemize.
Remember, you can also include the smoking cessation expenses you
incur for your spouse or dependents.
Even if your total medical expenses are too low to deduct, you may
be able to get the cost of a smoking cessation program as a tax-free
benefit under your employer's medical plan if your employer's plan
covers them, or you may be able to pay for the program from pre-tax
contributions by setting up a medical flexible spending account.
I would be happy to go over these tax-saving opportunities with you
in more detail. If you have any questions, please call.