Tax deduct your personal trainer?

[csciora]

Why does being able to deduct the expense sound so surprising to everyone?

There's minimal difference between PT, rehab and personal training. The first two buckets are clearly deductible medical expenses. I know a handful of trainers who work with various Crossfit boxes to provide therapeutic massage and various bodywork services that are reimbursed by insurance. If the "personal training" is necessary to improve physical limitations or recover from trauma, it's definitely a deductible expense. I'm about eighteen month post-op for hip labral repair along with severe glute atrophy and have seen all the those folks during the first year. All legitimate deductible medical expenses. Heck, the insurance company didn't even raise a flag for the providers that take insurance.

A doctor referral and not calling it personal training make it far more likely to pass with the IRS (and that's only if it's questioned in the first place), just like I wouldn't call my business trip with family members a "family vacation". Whether it's worthwhile to deduct it depends on how your medical expenses are paid. It could be paid through insurance, HSA, reimbursed through a company MERP or paid directly through a company MERP regardless of the total annual amount.

If the real question is "How do I deduct my gym membership and favorite personal trainer", the answer is don't.

[Scott at MD Financial Services]

Just beware that anything (trainers, bikes, hot tubs, pools, exercise regiments) you Tax Deduct as Medically necessary can come back to haunt you if and when you later apply for some life or disability insurance.  It becomes very difficult to convince an underwriter that those things are not big deals if they are used for 'medical treatment'.  We have dealt with hundreds of records over the years for our clients that bought the hot tub for back issues, massages (medically prescribed) PT that was more of a trainer and the such but once we apply for coverage's then those things come into focus and the typical carrier comment is "well did they tell the truth before that it was a problem and now not telling us the truth or did they not tell them the truth before but now are telling us the truth"?  Just be mindful since you don't want to be in a position where you are not being forthright in your disclosures.

[Doc Spouse]

Gah, that's horrible and I'm sorry to hear that.  I mentioned in another reply that I did taxes for years as a side gig while in the military.  It was an incredibly interesting experience and the clients made it even more so.  That being said, it could be an emotionally draining job as well.  You saw people at their best and worst, and many times knew more about their personal lives than their close family.  A lot of people don't realize just how personal that job gets.  

 

[jfoxcpacfp]

Doc Spouse wrote:

jfoxcpacfp wrote:

…but I have deducted the cost of a swimming pool.

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Lol, impressive.  Can you share a bit more details on this?

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Sad story. It was a prescription from a doctor for a kid who was run over by a bus and left permanently crippled. He was in daycare and the provider settled for high 6 figures (this was about 25 years ago). Unfortunately, the parents eventually began enjoying the pool a little too much and "allowed" him to pay for too many toys and the money was gone by the time he reached adulthood. Sad beginning, sad ending. I was their CPA, wasn't a CFP back then.

[Doc Spouse]

jfoxcpacfp wrote:

...but I have deducted the cost of a swimming pool.

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Lol, impressive.  Can you share a bit more details on this?

[jz]

A wishful fantasy to avoid.   If gym membership and personal trainers were deductible,  the costs would skyrocket.  Tax support inflates the prices we pay for college tuitions, homes, electric vehicles, and  health insurance. 

[Craigy]

There's something like a 10% AGI floor for deducting medical expenses.  So good luck hitting that.

As far as getting a doctor to write a note for an FSA account, not especially difficult, particularly when you're an MD already. 

 

[jfoxcpacfp]

ifonlyFI wrote:

Many big corporations pay for exercise classes/gym membership/wellness activities.

Couldn’t a physician who is a self proprietor or corporation pay for his personal trainer this way?

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Apologize, I hit "like" first instead of "quote"  ops:

You cannot pay for a gym membership for yourself through your small business (schedule C or S-corporation) because it is not an "ordinary and necessary" expense of doing business to provide yourself (or your spouse) with a gym membership or personal trainer. If you want to go so far as to set up a PSC (Personal Service Corporation) for your business, I believe it would be deductible as an employee fringe benefit.

[ifonlyFI]

Many big corporations pay for exercise classes/gym membership/wellness activities.

Couldn't a physician who is a self proprietor or corporation pay for his personal trainer this way?

[jfoxcpacfp]

ShahMD wrote:

Can you elaborate about the threshold? I’m an Independent Contractor. Lets say that my estimated income as an example would be 400k. Does that mean my personal trainer expense would have to be 40k or it wouldnt even count?

Or does that mean my total deductions has to overcome 40k or deductions for health reasons (including health insurance, etc) has to overcome 40k?

What if I was set up as an S corp and paid myself 250k with distribution of 150k? Then 25k?

 

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You can deduct medical expenses (aggregated) only in excess of your AGI. Your AGI would include your net IC income and any other taxable income reduced by deductions such as solo-401k contributions, HSA contributions, net loss from S-corp, etc. It's the bottom line on page 1 of your 1040. So, for example, if your bottom line totals $350k and your total medical expenses = $40k, you can deduct $5k of medical expenses on your schedule A.

[AR]

How much exactly are you spending on this personal trainer?

[ShahMD]

Can you elaborate about the threshold? I'm an Independent Contractor. Lets say that my estimated income as an example would be 400k. Does that mean my personal trainer expense would have to be 40k or it wouldnt even count?

Or does that mean my total deductions has to overcome 40k or deductions for health reasons (including health insurance, etc) has to overcome 40k?

What if I was set up as an S corp and paid myself 250k with distribution of 150k? Then 25k?

 

Thank you all for explaining.

[AR]

MPMD wrote:

interesting responses.

i have a hard time imagining a scenario where one would need a trainer for a medical reason that wasn’t physical therapy for a specific injury, which is absolutely deductible.

as others have said, everyone could just have their doc write “back pain” or some crap and write off a high end gym. in general my study of the tax code reveals that the IRS does not allow cute tricks that a ton of people could take advantage of. the Backdoor Roth is a notable exception.

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Yeah, that's kind of been my point through this whole thread.  You need to get a prescription and to do that the doc essentially has to lie.

But some docs make a business of that kind of lie (e.g. emotional support animals, medical marijuana, handicapped parking, etc.).   Personal trainers are not exactly cheap, but I still think that someone trying to find a doc to tell this lie for them is not going to be easy (so that they can get what amounts to a small tax break)  Probably not worth it to anyone rich enough to spend a lot on personal training.

And on the other side there is probably not enough demand that a doc is going to compromise themselves for the handful of patients that request personal training prescriptions.   Maybe if we expand it to things like gyms, bikes, and swimming pools, that could be enough.

However, anyone who is going to the gym/getting personal training enough that this represents a significant tax cut is going to be healthy enough that it would be hard for anyone to any doc to justify that it is medically necessary.

[MPMD]

interesting responses.

i have a hard time imagining a scenario where one would need a trainer for a medical reason that wasn't physical therapy for a specific injury, which is absolutely deductible.

as others have said, everyone could just have their doc write "back pain" or some crap and write off a high end gym. in general my study of the tax code reveals that the IRS does not allow cute tricks that a ton of people could take advantage of. the Backdoor Roth is a notable exception.

[jfoxcpacfp]

Yes, this could fly with the appropriate need and the cooperation of a physician who has recommended specific exercises that the OP needs a personal trainer for. If the OP would not otherwise need a personal trainer, I would have no problem taking that deduction. Of course, there is a threshold to overcome, but OP d/n ask about that.

I have not taken this specific deduction (that i can recall) but I have deducted the cost of a swimming pool.