Are Service Dog Expenses Tax Deductible?

Service dog expenses can be tax deductible under specific conditions, allowing individuals to claim these costs as medical expenses. This provision recognizes the essential role these trained animals play in assisting people with certain disabilities. Understanding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines is important for taxpayers seeking to deduct these expenses.

Qualifying Medical Care

For tax purposes, a service animal is considered medical care if its primary function is to alleviate a specific physical or mental disability or illness, requiring it to be individually trained to perform tasks directly related to a person’s disability. This distinction is important, as it separates working animals from ordinary pets or emotional support animals that primarily provide comfort.

To qualify, there must be a legitimate medical diagnosis from a healthcare professional recommending or prescribing the service animal as a form of treatment or mitigation for the condition. The animal’s training must be directly linked to performing tasks that assist with the individual’s medical needs, such as guiding those with visual impairments, alerting individuals who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, or reminding a person with a mental illness to take prescribed medications. Without this professional recommendation and specialized training for specific disability-related tasks, the expenses do not meet the IRS criteria for medical expense deductions. Emotional support animals, which offer comfort but lack specific task-oriented training, are not tax-deductible as medical expenses.

Types of Deductible Expenses

Once a service animal qualifies as medical care, a range of associated expenses can become deductible. The initial costs of acquiring the service animal, including its purchase price, are deductible. This also extends to expenses for its specialized training. These training costs can be substantial, often ranging from $15,000 to $30,000.

Ongoing maintenance expenses are eligible for deduction, provided they are directly related to maintaining the animal’s ability to perform its medical function. This includes the cost of food, grooming necessary for the animal’s health and ability to work, and comprehensive veterinary care including check-ups, medications, and emergency treatments. Specialized equipment, like harnesses, vests, or other medical devices, can be included. Expenses for boarding or pet-sitting are deductible if they are necessary for the service animal to continue its duties, for instance, when the handler is hospitalized. It is important to distinguish these deductible costs from general pet care expenses, as only those directly supporting the animal’s medical role are considered.

Claiming the Deduction

Service dog expenses are claimed as itemized deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040) under medical and dental expenses. This means taxpayers must choose to itemize their deductions rather than taking the standard deduction. For many, this decision depends on whether their total itemized deductions exceed the applicable standard deduction amount for their filing status. For tax year 2024, for example, the standard deduction for single filers is $14,600, and for those married filing jointly, it is $29,200.

Claiming this deduction involves an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) threshold. Taxpayers can only deduct the portion of their total qualified medical expenses that exceeds 7.5% of their AGI; for instance, if a taxpayer’s AGI is $60,000, the first $4,500 (7.5% of $60,000) of medical expenses are not deductible. Thorough record-keeping is necessary, including receipts for all service animal-related expenditures, documentation of the medical condition, and the healthcare professional’s recommendation for the service animal, as these records are important to substantiate the deduction if the IRS requests proof.