Could cuddle therapy be a tax deduction?

xandriarain

I have been thinking about ways that cuddle therapy could be more accessible. Obviously, it would be the dream if it was covered by health insurance but being tax-deductible might be the next best thing. According to the IRS, Therapy is a tax-deductible, medical expense and it doesn't specify any particular type of therapy. It also lists other alternatives healing modalities like acupuncture and chiropractic as tax-deductible. According to the article linked below, you can deduct massage therapy if a doctor or medical professional recommends it to treat a medical condition. So I am wondering if cuddle therapy could be deductible if the purpose was to alleviate mental health issues and there was a referral from a doctor or a therapist. Perhaps it could just be deducted as therapy. I am by no means a tax professional and am just speculating. Do any accountants, CPAs, or tax buffs have an opinion on this?

https://theradianttouchspa.com/blog/f/is-massage-therapy-a-medical-expense

https://irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf

Morpheus

Someone please correct me if I am wrong but there is no government license for cuddle therapy. If it’s not recognized as an actual form of therapy, I see no way there could be a tax deduction. In the case of massage being a tax deduction, I would assume it would have to be from a licensed massage therapist. I see a therapist once a week who is an actual Dr. Although my insurance pays for most of it, I am able to write off anything I pay out of pocket for therapy. I would be the first guy in line asking my Dr to approve cuddle sessions for me if this was the case.

OhioMike

@xandriarain great thought but yeah you need a licensed medical person to recommend cuddle therapy for treatment of some kind. It would be interesting if anyone here has had a licensed medical personnel authorize cuddling treatment for a diagnosis. So for the client though ,I don’t see that happening today . Who knows? Maybe someday. Keep in mind for professional cuddlers and their cuddling business, there are many tax deductions available for businesses 😊

xandriarain

@Morpheus while you are correct that there are no government licenses there are several certifications you can get as a cuddle therapist , Cuddlist, Cuddle Sanctuary and Certified Cuddlers all offer them. @OhioMike There are licensed therapists who do refer clients to cuddle therapy. I know several professional cuddlers who network with therapists. In the IRS 502 form it doesn’t seem to specify any particular type of therapy or licensing requirements. I think it could be easy to say that you see a cuddle therapist to help with your depression or anxiety etc.

OhioMike

@xandriarain sounds like good news then. Our tax system/ laws are an interesting read no doubt😊

cuddlerforu24

Provided an MD specifically prescribes cuddling for a treatment … that is a valid itemizable medical tax deduction ,including travel expenses the patient incurs , gas , tolls and lodging expenses .

A tax payer can only itemize medical expenses up to 7.5 percent of their AGI , and it really isn’t a tax deduction, it only adjusts your taxable income down a little further .
For most tax payers who itemize , only a savings of ten percent is realized ie for every $100 spent on a medical expense, they will actually be paying $90 in real time .

Some pro cuddlers wouldn’t cuddle married clients ( a depressed married patient for instance) . Some clients won’t seek cuddle therapists identified by internet username only , thinking what if they are randomly audited by the IRS . ( “ What’s this 5000.oo medical expenses .. to who ? )

xandriarain

@cuddlerforu24 most likely the professional cuddler would have to provide an invoice to the client but you can show payments made over venmo and paypal as well.

CuddleWho

I suspect this is theoretically possible if cuddling is prescribed by a doctor or therapist. However,

1. You'd need to itemize your deductions.
2. You can only deduct medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of your income.

Item 1 eliminates the large majority of taxpayers. Item 2 probably eliminates most people too, especially considering that most cuddle clients probably have a decent income.

xandriarain

@CuddleWho I think it also depends if you’re a W-2 or W-4 versus self-employed as well. Generally speaking if you’re self-employed all medical expenses are deducted from your taxable income. And I think the rule is any amount over 7.5% is deductible so let’s say you had other medical expenses such as health insurance premiums co-pays therapy etc. then perhaps you could still deduct Cuddling as part of it.

Babichev

The IRS allows one to deduct “legal medical expenses rendered by physicians, surgeons, dentists, and other medical practitioners.” Massage therapists are licensed as health care workers by their states and as such are recognized as health care providers. Since there is no regulation of cuddle therapy, it might be hard to convince the IRS that it’s a legitimate medical treatment.

CuddleWho

@xandriarain

Do you have a reference for self-employed people being able to deduct all medical expenses? As far as I can tell the 7.5% threshold applies to self-employed people too. Is it possible you’re thinking of the fact that self-employed people can deduct health insurance premiums?

xandriarain

@CuddleWho perhaps, when I did my taxes I was able to deduct health insurance premiums, copays and the cost of therapy sessions, there was nothing about a 7.5% threshold on turbo tax

Babichev

Self-employed people are allowed to deduct medical expenses if they are paying for their own insurance and have no other insurance from an employer. Here are the details:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-self-employed-health-insurance-deduction-a-valuable-personal-deduction.html

CuddleWho

Again, that says they can deduct health insurance premiums. Not all medical expenses.

Babichev

@CuddleWho - good point. I have an accountant. I list ALL my expenses, they get put into various categories. Whether my medical expenses qualify or not, my accountant figures all that out, so whether they have every qualified or not, I don’t know. I’d have to go back and look at my tax returns. Thanks for pointing that out.

Qualified unreimbursed medical expenses count along with other expenses toward your itemized deductions and if that total is more than the standard deduction, it further reduces your tax owed. I always end up taking the standard deduction because I never have enough qualified expenses. (This is normal personal taxes, don't have an LLC or anything.) But to the original question, the IRS has a very specific list of acceptible expenses. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc502