Tax Court Rules Gender Reassignment Expenses Deductible
On February 2, 2010, in Ododonnabhain v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the U.S. Tax Court held that a transgender woman's expenses for hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery were medically necessary and therefore deductible for federal income tax purposes. The court found that "gender identity disorder" is a disease, and ruled that gender transition-related healthcare is non-cosmetic, medically necessary healthcare. However, expenses for breast augmentation were found to be cosmetic as the surgery did not treat the disease or improve bodily function, and therefore were non-deductible.
