Question

Sometimes there is dispute between the IRS and taxpayers on how to apply the law as written. When those disputes cannot be resolved through a series of appeals, they may end up in court. The most common place for these to be argued is in Tax Court as introduced in the appendix to chapter 1. These US Tax Court cases have been published online and can be searched at the US Tax Court website (use opinion search). We want to see how we might look up a difficult area of the law to see how the court clarifies it. The issue is medical expenses as an itemized deduction and specifically costs for weight loss programs. We are looking to find a case from 2018 where a couple with a difficult to pronounce last name (hint) petitioned the court for a deduction as medical expenses the cost of a weight-loss program. There were other issues that were presented to the court but we are focused only on the medical expenses for this research. From reading the case, the court agreed with the taxpayers that the costs were deductible but still denied the deduction. You need to answer the following:

From the court's perspective what is necessary for the costs of a weight loss program to qualify as a medical deduction?

Why did this couple qualify for the deduction?

What made the court ultimately deny the deduction?

Answer 1

The Issue given in the question related to Deduction as Medical Expenses as an Itemized Deduction and Cost for Weight Loss.

Answer 1) From the Court's perspective the necessary for the costs of a weight loss program to qualify as a medical deduction is it should be an Expense for Medial Research Purpose.

Answer 2) The Couple Qualify for the deduction as they met the requirements under the guidlines of Weight loss program.

Answer 3) The Ultimate reason to deny the deuction to the couple by the court is the cost incurred by them are not for Medical Research of Weight Loss Programs but for others.