Can I Deduct The Cost Of Vitamins, Nutrition Supplements, And Alternative Therapies From My Income Tax If…?
Posted by Zolly | Under Nutrition Saturday May 30, 2009…I am a professional speaker on the topic? I advocate the use of these lifestyles, therapies, and products for health, wellness, and slowing the aging process. I definitely practice what I preach. I use/do everything I recommend in my speeches. I am in my mid-50s and look (and act) much younger.
I know that I am a walking promotion for my speaking business and that my appearance and behavior validates my expertise/opinions in the audience’s eyes. Therefore, I have to believe that my personal use of vitamins, supplements, and other alternative therapies should fall under the category of a business expense and be tax deductible. I am told by colleagues that this is “probably” true, but no one can give me any hard data to back up that claim.
If you agree (or disagree), can you give me the references I would need and could use if the tax deductions are ever challenged by the IRS.
Thank you for you help.
The products you “take” yourself are not deductible, since they are personal in nature. The rationale is the same for your suits and personal appearance. You need to have nice clothes and have your hair cut etc for your speaking engagements, but they aren’t deductible either. You could wear that suit for something other than a speaking engagement. The supplements help you in other areas of your life, not just your professional one. However, you can deduct any supplements you use as samples or displays, that are not available for sale. If you have pills that are available for sale (inventory) they are deducted when sold.
Sorry, whether I agree or not, the important thing is if the IRS would agree….sadly, they won’t. Some things just don’t pass muster.
The items you mentioned are personal and non-deductible. Your deducting the vitamins, etc would be along the lines of a salesman trying to deduct his business suits using the argument that they make him look more trustworthy to potential customers. In either case, the expenses are personal and unlikely to be allowed by the IRS.
My husband once had a 300+ lb nutritionist assigned by a hospital to give him (a diabetic) diet advice. Using your rationale, her groceries in conjunction with a weight loss plan would be deductible as a business expense so that her patients would trust her expertise, although her weight had nothing to do with her knowledge on the subject. This simply wouldn’t be allowable in her case, nor are the vitamins and other items allowable in yours.
As far as concrete evidence, you’re unlikely to find any. The Internal Revenue Code provides circumstances in which expenses are allowed. When items are not allowable, they’re simply absent from the code. This is probably why you can’t find any references.
nope you can’t sorry.