Deaf people and people with hearing loss have special expenses that they can deduct as medical expenses. Telephone equipment and repair costs, including phones with special ringtones, telephones with closed captions and teleprinters. The hearing aid tax credit would help many deaf and hard of hearing people who want to get hearing aids and who can benefit from them. The NAD urges consumers, parents, educators and hearing health professionals to contact their senators and representatives of the United States Congress to ask them to support this legislation.
The federal government considers many of their medical expenses to be eligible deductions. Because hearing loss is considered a medical condition and hearing aids are FDA-regulated medical devices, you may be able to deduct these costs. Special assistance is available for people with disabilities. If you are unable to complete your tax return due to a disability, you may be able to get help from an IRS office or from IRS-sponsored voluntary income tax assistance or senior tax counseling programs.
The IRS has indicated that hearing aids are eligible for a tax deduction, but this varies widely depending on your income and other financial factors. In addition, you may also be able to deduct transportation costs associated with your hearing loss, including actual fares for taxi, bus, train and ambulance rides. In older adults, hearing loss is the third most common physical condition after arthritis and heart disease. Two specific tax credits, the disability tax credit and the earned income tax credit, can potentially affect people with hearing aids.
The sum of the deductions you qualify for is greater than the standard deduction, so you'll want to itemize expenses (including hearing aids). It's also important to note that hearing expenses related to running a business may also qualify for tax deductions. In some cases, hearing aid users may also benefit from the earned income tax credit or the disability tax credit. This means you could still deduct your hearing aids if your health insurance deductible is high enough to qualify.
While this makes hearing aids exceed the typical monthly budget for many people, there are actually quite a few ways to control these costs. According to Turbo Tax, people with hearing loss sometimes qualify for the disability tax credit and the earned income tax credit. For hearing aids or other medical expenses to qualify as tax-deductible, the total cost of all medical expenses must be greater than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income (this includes batteries, insurance, and all other related expenses). Not every state in the U.S.
They offer the same standard benefits to people with hearing loss, so you'll need to register in your area if you qualify. If you work with hearing loss, certain hearing loss-related purchases that help you do your job may also be deductible. When applied, these tax deductions can make the actual cost of owning hearing aids a little more manageable.
