Tax question for the US

[Texan]

Just went on medicare a while back, but it seems they will not cover incontinence products. Do any of you deduct your diaper purchases on your taxes under non reimbursed medical supplies? Just thinking that might be a possibility. Thanks for any help you all might have.

[john1050]

file long form (1040) and opt out of the 'standard deduction' in order to do that.

often quite difficult to beat the standard deduction unless you have a LOT of items to declare.

get with a good CPA or tax attorney...they have a fee, yes, but it might be helpful in finding deductions you can take should
there be more than adult incontinence products.

[WetDad]

John has the right idea-
1. Use a tax preparation firm. A local office- not one of those services that sets up a table in WalMart. You want someone you can ask questions of year round.
2. Watch carefully when s/he does it, and ask lots of questions.
3. Get yourself ready to do this the following year, using TurboTax. It makes the job so easy. I've done this for many years and it really is that simple.

To your original question, yes I do, some years. Some years the standard deduction is better, but other years I can write it off. It depends on how many medical expenses my family has that particular year.

[B Brian]

A number of years back I tried keeping track of every single medical expense I had (including diapers, and on down to bandaids). The number of receipts I had crammed a shoebox to bursting. After a few hours of adding it all up and going through the long form, I was about $100 short of the standard deduction.

I spent so much time one that, and yet still just took the standard deduction. I haven't messed with receipts like that since.