Per IRS Pub 502: "Fertility EnhancementYou can include in medical expenses the cost of the following procedures to overcome an inability to have children. Procedures such as in vitro fertilization (including temporary storage of eggs or sperm). Surgery, including an operation to reverse prior surgery that prevented the person operated on from having children."

Question

Can a same sex couple claim fertility treatment?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 1, 2019
2 replies
0 views

No text available

TurboTax Deluxe Online

Rainman12

Employee

Per IRS Pub 502: "Fertility Enhancement

You can include in medical expenses the cost of the following procedures to overcome an inability to have children.

Procedures such as in vitro fertilization (including temporary storage of eggs or sperm).
Surgery, including an operation to reverse prior surgery that prevented the person operated on from having children."

O

Opus 17

Employee

Current case law is that same sex couples can't deduct fertility treatments that are due to solely to the nature of a same sex relationship. A gay man (who spent over $100,000 on surrogacy and lost the deduction in audit) is suing in federal district court in Florida to overturn this policy arguing it is discriminatory, but the case has not been decided yet. Whether the taxpayers here want to be trailblazers and take the risk is up to them.

O

Opus 17

Employee

Medical expenses are deductible if they are to treat a disease or medical condition. For example (at the risk of being indelicate) two women could not deduct the cost of artificial insemination, because being a woman is not a disease or condition. But if part of the cost was hormone treatments to help the woman conceive due to her own infertility, that would be a deductible expense.

Also note that you can only deduct medicL expenses for yourself, a spouse, or a dependent. So if the same sex relationship is not a marriage, you may not be able to deduct expenses you pay for your partner. However, your partner can deduct them as if they paid them, because your payment can be treated as a gift to them.