U.S. · Medical expense deduction
Are condoms tax deductible?
Yes, by name: Pub 502 lists condoms, but only the part of your total medical costs above 7.5% of AGI is deductible.
Yes, they are eligible. IRS Publication 502 says you can include in medical expenses the amount you pay to purchase condoms. Being eligible is not the same as saving tax, though: you deduct only the part of the year’s total medical and dental costs that is more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, and only if you itemize on Schedule A. For most households the condom cost alone never reaches the floor. This page summarizes a tax publication and is not medical advice.
Estimate the deduction
Result
What the publication says
Condoms appear on Pub 502’s list of items you can include, as a short entry of one sentence. There is no prescription requirement and no condition attached to it. That makes it different from drugs, where Pub 502 says you cannot include a non-prescribed drug other than insulin.
Two neighbors on the same list are worth knowing. Birth control pills are includible when prescribed by a doctor, and a pregnancy test kit is includible when you buy it to determine if you are pregnant. The rules for those entries are separate from the condom entry, so one does not carry the other.
Why eligibility rarely produces a deduction
The deduction works as a floor. If your adjusted gross income is $60,000, the first $4,500 of qualifying medical costs for the year produces nothing. A box of condoms is a few dollars, so on its own it will almost never matter. It matters only as one more line in a year when you already have large costs, such as a surgery, a hospital stay, or an uninsured dental bill, and the total is well past the floor.
It also matters only if you itemize. If your itemized deductions are lower than the standard deduction, no medical expense changes your tax at all. The standard-versus-itemized calculator linked below tests that first.
Illustration with numbers
This is an illustration, not an example from the publication. Your AGI is $50,000, so the floor is $3,750. Your unreimbursed costs for the year are $4,100 for dental work and $160 for a year of condoms and a pregnancy test kit. The total is $4,260, and the deduction is $510. Without the $160 it would be $350. The item added $160 because the year already cleared the floor. In a year with only $160 of costs, it would have added nothing.
Paying, records and reimbursements
You include only amounts you paid in the tax year. Credit card purchases count in the year of the charge. Reduce the total by any reimbursement, including insurance. If you buy supplies with a tax-free health savings account distribution, you cannot also count them: the publication says expenses paid with a tax-free HSA distribution cannot be included, and the same is true for an Archer MSA. Pre-tax flexible spending arrangement reimbursements likewise remove the cost from the deduction.
Keep ordinary receipts. Small repeated purchases are easy to forget, so some people total them from card statements at year end.
How the floor, timing and itemizing apply here
For condoms, the same three rules from Publication 502 decide the final number. First, the deduction is only the part of your total medical and dental expenses that is more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, so a $1,000 cost does nothing until the year’s total passes the floor. Second, you include only what you paid during the tax year and were not reimbursed for, and you may include costs for yourself, your spouse and your dependents. Third, the deduction is claimed on Schedule A (Form 1040), so it helps only if your itemized deductions add up to more than your standard deduction. Amounts paid with a tax-free health savings account distribution cannot be counted again, and pre-tax flexible spending arrangement reimbursements are excluded.
Related medical expense topics
More from the same IRS publication: Are contact lenses tax deductible?, Is oxygen tax deductible?, Are surrogacy expenses tax deductible?. For a full calculation across all your expenses, use the medical expense deduction calculator, and see whether itemizing beats the standard deduction.
Sources
- IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses (2025): the “Condoms”, “Birth Control Pills” and “Pregnancy Test Kit” entries, the 7.5% of AGI rule, the reimbursement rules and the health savings account rule. Read November 2, 2026.
Edition read: Publication 502 (2025), for use in preparing 2025 returns. Dollar limits and rates in this publication are for 2025; the publication notes that later legislation (P.L. 119-21) may affect federal deductions, so check the current publication and the Schedule A instructions for your tax year. This page summarizes the publication and does not replace it. Marked for human review.
Frequently asked questions
Are condoms tax deductible?
They qualify. Publication 502 says you can include in medical expenses the amount you pay to purchase condoms, subject to the 7.5% of AGI floor and itemizing on Schedule A.
Do I need a prescription for condoms to count?
Publication 502 attaches no prescription requirement to condoms. Birth control pills are different and are includible when prescribed by a doctor.
Can I include a pregnancy test kit?
Yes. Publication 502 lets you include the amount you pay to purchase a pregnancy test kit to determine if you are pregnant.
Will buying condoms lower my tax bill?
Rarely on its own. Only the amount of your total medical costs above 7.5% of AGI is deductible, and only if you itemize, so a small purchase matters only in a year with large costs.
Can I count them if I paid with HSA money?
No. Publication 502 says you cannot include expenses you paid with a tax-free distribution from a health savings account.
Not tax or medical advice
This page summarizes an IRS publication and is not tax, legal, financial or medical advice, and it makes no claim about whether any treatment works. A CPA or an enrolled agent can confirm how a rule applies to your return. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere.