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Deducting mileage to pick up a prescription
Dear Tax Talk:
Is mileage to and from a pharmacy to get prescription medication
considered a deductible expense?
EJ
Dear EJ:
I can see you're really working hard for tax deductions. An often-overlooked
medical expense is transportation related to receiving medical care.
On your 2001 return, the Internal Revenue Service allows you to
claim 12 cents per mile for personal use of your automobile in connection
with travel to a doctor's office, hospitals and clinics.
The law states that medical
expenses include expenditures for:
1.
the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease,
or for the purpose of affecting any structure of function of the
body (including amounts paid for accident or health insurance),
or
2.
transportation primarily for and essential to medical care referred
to above.
Based on this definition,
it is my opinion that the transportation necessary to obtain medication
would also qualify.
-- Posted: Feb. 20, 2002
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