Medical Expenses: Testing the Limits

Medical expenses were the issue this week in the case of Magdalin v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2008-293.  In this case the taxpayer had paid expenses for obtaining eggs and the services of a surrogate mother, and argued that these expenses should be treated as deductible medical expenses, pointing to the IRS's 2003 private letter ruling (PLR 200318017) that allowed a woman the expenses related to in vitro fertilizaiton, including expenses paid for an egg donor.  The IRS (and the Tax Court) didn't find the situations to be comparable and denied the deduction--but it gives us a chance to look at the rules around §213.

The materials are at http://www.edzollars.com/2008-12-28_Medical.pdf .

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