Are dental crowns deductible?

adds them to his bill for services. However he has offered (for reasons that are not germane) to let me pay the crown invoice myself and just bill me for his services. He cautioned me that I would then lose my deduction for the crowns, which would have been deductible as part of his bill.

crowns be deductible just because I paid the supplier directly.

First, this should have been handled through a flexible spending account, in which case it would have come off the top, i.e. been all pretax money. Now, you first need to total your medical, subtract 7.5% of your AGI, and that's the medical that can go toward you itemizing your deductions. If you don't already itemize, this math may have you come out with no deduction at all, the standard still higher.

It sounds like he saved you a markup, but I'd still treat as medical.

adds them to his bill for services. However he has offered (for reasons that are not germane) to let me pay the crown invoice myself and just bill me for his services. He cautioned me that I would then lose my deduction for the crowns, which would have been deductible as part of his bill.

crowns be deductible just because I paid the supplier directly.

Per IRS Pub. 502, artificial teeth are a deductible medical expense. Unless someone can explain why dental implants aren't artificial teeth, I would take the deduction.

Ira Smilovitz Leonia, NJ

"Are dental crowns deductible? "

I'm not sure I'd look to the dentist for tax advice. I can't think of any reason the dental crowns wouldn't be deductible, no matter how they were billed.

You're assuming the flexible spending account isn't already maxed out, and that the taxpayer has the legal ability to contribute to one.

Seth