Tax Deduction for Tummy Tuck and Inner Thigh Lift?

After losing 110+ lbs, I paid for a tummy tuck and inner thigh lift to remove the excess skin and tighten things up a little.  Does anyone know if I can deduct these expenses on my taxes if I already itemize them?

Medical expense are a deduction.  They have to be a certain portion of your income to qualify, but I'm assuming, based on regular fees for plastic surgery, that what you paid is a substantial portion of your income.  I use Turbo Tax, and the software walks you right through entering all of that stuff.  Good luck.

If your medical expenses are greater than a certain percentage of your income, you can deduct them.  Or maybe it's that you can deduct the amount above that percentage.  Anyway, I would add up all your medical expenses, not just the plastic surgery, to deduct.

Only the amount that exceeds 10% of your income can be deducted.  How much use that deduction is depends greatly on income, of course.

(edited to correct 7.5% to 10% because of change in tax code)

Surgery is only deductible if not considered cosmetic.  If you get audited it will not pass audit and you will have to pay the tax back plus penalties. 

From the IRS' website:  

You may not deduct funeral or burial expenses, over-the-counter medicines, toothpaste, toiletries, cosmetics, a trip or program for the general improvement of your health, or most cosmetic surgery. 

If you call that cosmetic surgery - it is not deductible, but reconstructive surgery to eliminate heath problems like infection, skin rash, or discomfort -  that can be classified as medically necessary - can be deductable. Just make sure you have all supporting documents (I.e pictures - before and after, and have that documentation jusdt in case.  You can ask you doc to write a statement that the surgery was medically nessecery. Just because your insurance did not pay for it - it does not mean it was not medically justified,  

Deduction value for medical expenses

The IRS allows you to deduct qualified medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of your adjusted gross income for the year. Your adjusted gross income is your taxable income minus any adjustments to income such as deductions, contributions to a traditional IRA and student loan interest.

For example, if you have a modified adjusted gross income of $45,000 and $5,475 of medical expenses, you would multiply $45,000 by 0.10 (10 percent) to find that only expenses exceeding $4,500 can be deducted. This leaves you with a medical expense deduction of $975 (5,475 - 4,500).

I'd suggest you get the advice of a qualified tax professional. This is one of those times when it may be worth the fee!

As White Dove said, cosmetic surgery is specifically excluded in the IRS regulations as qualified medical deductions. A Google search easily finds the exclusion in IRS publication 502.

I do know that some people decided to risk an audit and take the deduction anyway, but since you can only deduct what is in excess of a certain percentage of your income (it was 7.5% when I had my PS done, but it may have increased since then) it probably isn't worth the risk of audit, penalties, etc.

Lora