It is estimated that families of children with cancer spend 25% or more of their income on items not covered by insurance. Examples of these expenses are gas, car repairs, motels, food away from home, health insurance deductibles and copays, prescriptions, and dental work. Many of these items can be deducted from federal income tax. Often parents are too fatigued to go through stacks of bills at the end of the year to calculate their deductions. If a monthly total is kept in a notebook or on your computer, then all that needs to be done at tax time is to add up the monthly totals.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) generally allows you to deduct any reasonable cost for procedures or expenses that are deemed by a doctor to be medically necessary. You may also deduct certain other expenses with proper documentation; some of the costs that are currently deductible include wheelchairs, wigs, acupuncture, psychotherapy and counseling, health maintenance organization (HMO) fees, special education or tutoring costs for sick children, meals at the hospital, parking at the hospital, travel to and from medical appointments, and transportation and lodging costs while your child is in the hospital.

To find out what can be deducted while your child is undergoing treatment, get IRS Publication 502 for the relevant tax year. You can download this publication from the IRS website at www.irs.gov or make a copy from a master form at your local library (ask a reference librarian where the IRS forms are kept).

Canadian families can deduct many of the same medical expenses as U.S. families. To find out what can be deducted in Canada, visit the Revenue Canada website at www.cra-arc.gc.ca and type in the search term “deductible medical expenses.”

If you keep a calendar, an easy way to track tax-deductible items is to glue an envelope to the inside cover. Whenever you incur an expense that may be tax deductible (e.g., parking at the hospital), put the receipt in the envelope and file it when you get home.