medical deduction

[liberty]

An elderly client told me her doctor prescribed massage therapy, she did 48 visits last year. Are you comfortable taking that deduction?

[Burke]

Therapy is an allowed medical deduction. See Pub 502, page 14.

[Roland Slugg]

Absolutely. I believe it would be preferable if the massages were performed by a licensed provider, if there even is a licensing requirement, and a written letter or other document from the woman's doctor would also be a good idea. Massage therapy is often recommended for persistent sciatica.

[FEDUKE404]

Consider also

Does Medicare / private insurance cover any of the costs ? ?

FE

[Gretel]

Does Medicare / private insurance cover any of the costs ? ?

FE

Medicare does not, just have a client who found out about this and then thought it also could not be deducted. To be clear: Are you saying that even if there is no prescription you would be comfortable to deduct massage if medical is the reason?

[liberty]

pub 502, page 14

Somehow I always thought massage therapy is different from physical therapy. I am 100% certain physical therapy is deductible, but massage therapy seems a little gray. My client is 76, seems has ache and pain all the time.

[Burke]

Note OP stated it was prescribed by a doctor, but the standard is usually if prescribed for a specific condition. If someone just decides to go for it for general health reasons, or because they like it, I would not take it as a medical deduction. Sort of like vitamins.

[FEDUKE404]

Probable deduction

Medicare does not, just have a client who found out about this and then thought it also could not be deducted. To be clear: Are you saying that even if there is no prescription you would be comfortable to deduct massage if medical is the reason?

Not sure how much weight / relevance a "prescription" might carry.

The key factor is whether the massage therapy can be interpreted as a medical treatment. If so, it is likely a qualifying Schedule A deduction.

FE

[taxea]

This is a quote from the IRS TAX MAP under "medical therapy"
"You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for therapy received as medical treatment." I would make sure to keep the doctor's diagnosis report, written prescription and/or letter of recommendation of the therapy in your client file.