Accountant In New York

[irish]

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone know of a good accountant in New York who is familiar with deductions for Celiac Disease. I appreciate everyone's help.

Loretta

[nettiebeads]

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone know of a good accountant  in  New York who is familiar with deductions for Celiac Disease.  I appreciate everyone's help.

Loretta

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

deductions? what deductions??? I'm an accountant, and my auditor is a cpa (her father-in-law has celiac disease) and we've never heard of deductions for celiac disease. Please give me more details.

[celiac3270]

https://www.celiac.com/st_main.html?p_catid...-08105282744.94

If the total difference between the normal food and your gluten-free food exceeds 7.5% of your salary, you can get a deduction. Read at the link above.

[Merika]

Yeah, I think this is basically impossible unless you're living on $10,000 a year, in which case deductions won't help you at all. I've heard you can get deductions or tax breaks or something if you are in Canada, but you get squat here in the USA.

Merika

[celiac3270]

Absolutely. And if you can afford to live in NY, you're not likely to have such a salary . I'm not sure if you can include medical bills, though, in which case you might have a fair amount (particularly if you don't have insurance and you had a bad year medically). Oh, and just for anybody who might do this, look into it, because I've read that you can even include the cost for the extra gas it took you to get to the health food store--i.e. if it's really far away, you can deduct the difference between going there and going to your grocery store...I've only read about that, though, so be sure before putting that in.

[Guest GITRDONE]

celiac3270, Where do you find all this info, let alone the time?? Your awesome.

Anyway, I have one for you. How about the palm pilot, Scotts gluten-free list & computers??

I asked my accountant last year and she was clueless. Do we need a doctors note?? Thanks ahead of time Susan

[lovegrov]

I absolutely cannot imagine you could claim a Palm Pilot or a computer simply because you have celiac. Pretty much all of us would have a computer anyway, and the PP certainly is not a necessity. Heck, I don't even carry a list when I shop any more.

You can see that one person on this thread who knows their stuff knows nothing about a tax deduction for celiac, and another is looking for an accountant. The IRS has NOT specifically approved celiac food as a medical deduction. BE CAREFUL!!!!

richard

[celiac3270]

No...nobody would allow for that (Palm)--and the lists that one might buy are not considered "essential." I don't use lists either...I know which companies clearly list and obviously, which ingredients are forbidden, questionable, safe.

You would definitely need an official doctor's diagnosis of Celiac disease...you surely cannot claim food expenses if you suspect celiac disease or simply responded positively to the diet.

My family doesn't do the deductions...

[celiac3270]

You can see that one person on this thread who knows their stuff knows nothing about a tax deduction for celiac, and another is looking for an accountant. The IRS has NOT specifically approved celiac food as a medical deduction. BE CAREFUL!!!!

richard

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They haven't specifically approved of it, but the CSA seems to think that you can write it off.... I'm not sure about this--I've read about this all over, but I don't know if you really can do it...not to mention that if you really think of all the work involved, it probably isn't worth it. Save all the receipts, get doctor notes, calculate the differences by getting prices, adjust the differences due to changes in prices (for gluten-free food, etc.). And it's very likely that you won't spend enough on it to qualify...and then all that work goes for nothing... I wouldn't recommend it, but it might be possible...the CSA thinks so, anyway:

https://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodi...-14105147557.50

[drjmarkusic]

I checked with my a/c and he informed me that to take any type of food on taxes it must be scripted by a physician and the receipt must specifically state the type of food that meets the prescription. You know what??? that's difficult to achieve as health food stores give blanket receipts and not detailed receipts. As well the product is not sold in a supermarket. My a/c told me if I want an audit by IRS (no thank you) try it.

I've found many foods that are gluten-free at super markets which are less expensive than at health food stores. As well, I've asked the markets here to carry some items and they have accommodated. Just some $.02 worth.

[lovegrov]

The CSA information is now 12 years old. Since then the IRS has made all kinds of rulings, including one that forbids counting diet foods as medical expenses because it's not necessary to buy expensive diet foods to lose weight. You also can't deduct the cost of a health club membership for the same reason. Some tax experts who have looked at this say that in their opinion expensive gluten-free food falls in the same category -- it's not necessary to buy it to stay gluten-free.

I've also heard of accountants who think the deduction is OK and I've heard of a handful of people with heavy medical expenses who have taken it.

richard