Itemized Deductions(p7)

If you file Form 1040, you generally can either claim the standard deduction or itemize your deductions. You must use Schedule A (Form 1040) to itemize your deductions. See your form instructions for information on the standard deduction and the deductions you can itemize. The following discussions highlight some itemized deductions that are of particular interest to persons with disabilities.

When figuring your deduction for medical expenses, you can generally include medical and dental expenses you pay for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents.

Medical expenses are the cost of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease and the costs for treatments affecting any part or function of the body. They include the costs of equipment, supplies, diagnostic devices, and transportation for needed medical care and payments for medical insurance.

You can deduct only the amount of your medical and dental expenses that is more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income shown on Form 1040, line 38.

The following list highlights some of the medical expenses you can include in figuring your medical expense deduction. For more detailed information, see Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses (Including the Health Coverage Tax Credit).

• Artificial limbs, contact lenses, eyeglasses, and hearing aids.
• The part of the cost of Braille books and magazines that is more than the price of regular printed editions.
• Cost and repair of special telephone equipment for hearing-impaired persons.
• Cost and maintenance of a wheelchair or a three-wheel motor vehicle commercially known as an "autoette."
• Cost and care of a guide dog or other animal aiding a person with a physical disability.
• Costs for a school that furnishes special education if a principal reason for using the school is its resources for relieving a mental or physical disability. This includes the cost of teaching Braille and lip reading and the cost of remedial language training to correct a condition caused by a birth defect.
• Premiums for qualified long-term care insurance, up to certain amounts.
• Improvements to a home that do not increase its value if the main purpose is medical care. An example is constructing entrance or exit ramps.

If you are disabled, you can take a business deduction for expenses that are necessary for you to be able to work. If you take a business deduction for these impairment-related work expenses, they are not subject to the 7.5% limit that applies to medical expenses.

You are disabled if you have:

• A physical or mental disability (for example, blindness or deafness) that functionally limits your being employed, or
• A physical or mental impairment (including, but not limited to, a sight or hearing impairment) that substantially limits one or more of your major life activities, such as performing manual tasks, walking, speaking, breathing, learning, or working.

Impairment-related expenses are those ordinary and necessary business expenses that are:

• Necessary for you to do your work satisfactorily,
• For goods and services not required or used, other than incidentally, in your personal activities, and
• Not specifically covered under other income tax laws.

Publication 502 contains more detailed information.