Are funeral expenses tax deductible?

What Pub 502 excludes

The exclusion appears on the list of expenses that are not includible: you cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for funerals. The medical expense definition covers diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease, and funeral costs do not fit it. The same list excludes other personal costs, such as health club dues and household help, and the cost of a trip merely for a change in environment.

This page covers only the medical expense deduction in Publication 502. Other federal and state rules, such as those that apply to an estate, are outside it, and a tax professional can say what applies to a particular estate.

What can be claimed for the person who died

Medical bills that arose before death are different. Pub 502 says that if you paid medical expenses for your deceased spouse or dependent, you include them on your Schedule A in the year paid, whether paid before or after the death. You must have been married to, or have claimed as a dependent, that person either when the services were provided or when you paid.

The survivor or personal representative can also choose to treat certain expenses paid by the decedent’s estate for the decedent’s medical care as paid by the decedent when the services were provided, if they are paid within the one-year period beginning with the day after death. The choice needs a statement attached to the decedent’s Form 1040 or 1040-SR, or amended Form 1040-X, saying the expenses have not been and will not be claimed on the estate tax return.

The publication's example

Pub 502 gives an example of how the one-year rule works. Hudson properly filed a 2024 return and died in 2025 with unpaid medical expenses of $1,500 from 2024 and $1,800 in 2025. If the expenses are paid within the one-year period, Hudson’s survivor or personal representative can file an amended return for 2024 claiming the $1,500, and the $1,800 can go on the decedent’s final 2025 return. A refund claim generally must be filed within three years of the date the original return was filed or two years from the time the tax was paid, whichever is later.

One caution is stated in the publication: qualified medical expenses paid before death by the decedent are not deductible if they were paid with a tax-free distribution from an Archer MSA, Medicare Advantage MSA or health savings account.

Illustration: funeral costs ignored

This is an illustration, not an example from the publication. A widow’s AGI is $40,000, so the floor is $3,000. She paid $9,000 for a funeral and $4,100 of her late husband’s final medical bills, none reimbursed. Only the $4,100 counts, so the deduction is $1,100. Adding the funeral would have wrongly produced $10,100. Use the calculator above to see how a non-qualifying amount leaves the result unchanged.

How the floor, timing and itemizing apply here

For funeral expenses, 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: Is medical marijuana tax deductible?, Is an ambulance tax deductible?, Is a home health aide tax deductible?. For a full calculation across all your expenses, use the medical expense deduction calculator.

Sources

• IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses (2025): the “Funeral Expenses; Decedent” entries, the 7.5% of AGI rule, the reimbursement rules and the transportation rules. 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.