Re: supplements deductible

[Guest guest]

Hi, Jo,

>I understand that anything that is over the counter can't be written off.

>Dr. Cheney has me on supplements as well as pharmaceuticals as part of my

>treatment program. The cost of sups are not picked up by insurance so we

>have quite a supplement bill. Do you (or anyone out there) know the law

>designation or how I can get it? What is required to write off sups.

>Does the doctor need to write it out on a piece of paper or something?

>

The law as I understand it ( & just saw our tax man...) is that anything that

is _prescribed_ is deductible. Some doctors are good about writing

prescriptions for supplements, even tho the supplement itself is OTC -

others don't. I myself am operating as if an oral recommendation is

equivalent to a prescription, since my doc doesn't want to be bothered with

writing prescriptions for OTC stuff but does record her recommendations in

the chart. Others may not want to take the chance, but I believe that having

the chart available should an audit happen is sufficient.

The IRS won't give a straight answer on this. They want to keep the option

of terrorizing people with unclear stuff, even if tax court rulings have

gone against them on the same issue in the past. (Incidentally, this is the

only situation where a verdict against the IRS is not precedent for other

tax courts, but a ruling for the IRS is. So much for the newer, friendlier

IRS.)

Jerry

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