The fact that a medical treatment may not be recognized as a proper treatment by medical authorities does not mean that federal tax law will deny the taxpayer a deduction for such expenses. In a bench opinion, the Tax Court in the case of Malev v. Commissioner, Tax Court Case No. 1282-165 held that the taxpayer would be allowed a deduction for such expenses even though the only diagnosis she cited as evidence of her condition took place after the treatments in question, calling into question her belief that her unusual treatment had cured her.
The Court noted that the treatments the taxpayer sought to deduct related to her spinal conditions were outside the norm, noting:
Concerned that conventional treatments for her condition posed too much risk, or were or would be ineffective, Petitioner subscribed to various forms of treatment from four individuals, none of whom would be commonly recognized as a conventional medical caregiver. And to be sure, none of the methods utilized by these individuals would commonly be recognized as a conventional medical treatment. The methods Petitioner subscribed to might be termed “alternative medicine” by the polite, but we expect the less tolerant would characterize the treatments in other than legitimate or complimentary terms.
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