Taxes....

[jaysmommy]

Does anyone know if you can claim the difference between the cost of GF food as compared to "regular" food on your taxes? A friend told me last night that she has a friend with a son who has celiac and she does this every year on her taxes....

[the sensible celiac]

I have heard it said that you can do this, but I've also heard that you only get to deduct the difference in cost between a GF item and the ordinary product.  For example, if a loaf of bread costs $3.00 and a loaf of GF bread is $5.50 you can only deduct the $2.50 difference.

In addition, you need to have $2,500.00 in un-reimbursed medical expenses in a year before you can itemize them, if I recall correctly.

Lastly, the differences in cost between regular food products and their GF versions might be difficult to establish to the satisfaction of the IRS if an audit were to occur.

With all of these limitations, I think few Americans with celiac disease pursue this option.

[Sharon]

I know this reply is a little late in coming. . . .

My understanding is you have to have an official celiac diagnosis from your medical person and it probably helps to have an additional statement that specifies gluten free foods are a medical necessity.  Then the total of un-reimbursed medical expense needs to equal 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.  It's conceivable that in a year of high medical costs one could meet this when the difference spent in food costs is coupled with other un-reimbursed out of pocket expenses.

I don't file on this for taxes, but with the above mentioned documentation I do submit regularly to my flex plan for pre-tax reimbursement.  The flex plan requires me to list the cost of "regular" food in 3 different stores and use the average.  Then I can claim the difference between what I spend and that average.  It's a little bit of a hassle to get the cost list, and do the math to calculate cost/lb of something vs. cost/10 oz (for example).  I just try to view it as a good skills test for myself, and I find the savings worthwhile.

[Sharon]

If you go to www.ener-g.com and follow the links to Insurance and Tax Deductions they have a very nice statement about eligibility, rules, recommendations, etc. of how to track things for tax purposes.