Is a wheelchair tax deductible?

What counts

The Wheelchair entry has two parts. The purchase price of a wheelchair used for the relief of a sickness or disability counts. And the cost of operating and maintaining it counts too, which covers repairs, batteries and similar upkeep for a powered chair. The test is the use: the chair must be used for the relief of a sickness or disability.

Neighbouring entries cover the surroundings of mobility. Crutches count, and so does an artificial limb. Pub 502 also includes the costs of buying, training and maintaining a guide dog or other service animal to assist a person with a physical disability.

Vehicles and home changes

A specially equipped vehicle is a common follow-on question. Under Car, you can include the difference between the cost of a regular car and a car specially designed to hold a wheelchair. The cost of special hand controls and other special equipment installed in a car for the use of a person with a disability also counts. Operating a specially equipped car for other than medical reasons is not includible, so the personal-use portion stays out.

Home changes are handled under Capital Expenses. Pub 502 lists items such as constructing entrance or exit ramps and widening doorways as capital expenses that can be medical expenses when the cost is reasonable and for your disabled condition, but you include only the part of the cost that exceeds the increase in your home’s value, using the capital expense worksheet in the publication. Improvements to property rented by a person with a disability have their own treatment. If you later sell medical equipment or property you deducted, read the Sale of Medical Equipment section and its Worksheet D, because a gain can arise.

Timing, reimbursement and who is covered

Count the chair in the year you paid, not the year you use it. A purchase on a credit card counts in the year of the charge. If Medicare or private insurance paid for the chair or for rental and repairs, you reduce your medical expenses by the amount received, since Pub 502 includes Medicare in the reimbursements that reduce the total.

You can include equipment you buy for yourself, your spouse or a dependent. For a parent who is your dependent, check the dependent and multiple support agreement rules in the publication before counting the cost.

Illustration: a power chair year

This is an illustration, not an example from the publication. AGI is $45,000, so the floor is $3,375. You paid $4,200 for a power wheelchair and $350 in repairs and batteries, and Medicare paid nothing toward the chair. Other qualifying costs were $900. The total is $5,450 and the deduction is $2,075. Had insurance reimbursed $2,000 of the chair, your total would drop to $3,450 and the deduction would fall to $75. Try your own numbers above, and see the linked calculators for whether itemizing beats the standard deduction.

How the floor, timing and itemizing apply here

For wheelchair, 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 hearing aids 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 “Wheelchair” 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.