Can Supplements be a tax write-off?

If they are medically necessary........can they be written off?  Or can you use you medical savings plan to pay for them pre-tax...........any cpa's out there? 

Go to www.irs.gov and look for publication 502 for full explanations, however, in general your supplements are not deductible.

Nutritional Supplements

 

You cannot include in medical expenses the cost of nutritional supplements, vitamins, herbal supplements, “natural medicines," etc. unless they are recommended by a medical practitioner as treatment for a specific medical condition diagnosed by a physician. Otherwise, these items are taken to maintain your ordinary good health, and are not for medical care.

The above being said, Weight Loss programs and their associated costs can be deducted if they are prescribed by a physician for treatment of an actual medical condition of which obesity is one of those conditions.  However, once the obesity is resolved, as WLS does, the diagnosis is no longer there, so it is a very grey area as to whether continued use can be deducted or not or whether the supplements at that point are just being taken to maintain "ordinary good health"

As far as I know, it has not been tested yet in court.  I advise my clients not to try the deduction because it's just not worth the aggrevation to be the test case for the IRS.

I'm a year plus post op and I tried to claim the protein drinks against my FSA/HSA account. With my surgeon's written RX the only covered expenses was the calcium and iron supps. Protein was not (EVEN WITH THE RX).  The rationale has alot to do with the fact, that after the initial period adequate protein can be gotten by diet. Just my $0.02. and experience.

Have a great day :)

My FSA would not reimburse for vitamins period. And my tax advisor said it wasn't worth even trying on my taxes.  However, I have given thousands of dollars worth of clothes, some that still had tags on them that I never even got to wear...  to Goodwill which is tax deductible!  Yay!  Good luck!  Love & Hugs,