How much money will you get back in taxes for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)?
The amount of your refund depends on your marginal tax bracket, your adjusted gross income, the total of your itemized deductions, and your ability to implement a stealthy strategy.
You will learn the secret to making IVF more affordable by doubling or quadrupling your tax refund. Consolidate all payments and treatment into one calendar year to overcome two critical spending thresholds by utilizing financing, multi-cycle discounts, or shared-risk programs.
How Much You Get Back
Use our calculator to estimate the size of your IVF-based tax refund. Read our generic example of a California couple to see the extra money returned by consolidating payments into one year.
After reading through the basics on how to write off IVF on your taxes optimally, return to the calculator to input updated figures to estimate how much more money you get back.
Once again, IVF is tax-deductible, but the amount paid towards treatment in the given calendar year determines how much money you get back when you file your return. Input a few numbers into the online calculator and see an instant estimate of your federal income tax savings.
We limit the illustration to married couples filing jointly to keep the calculator logic reasonably simple.
Example Illustration
Follow along as a fictitious California couple gets different amounts back on their taxes based exclusively on the timing of payments for three IVF cycles totaling $45,000.
- Married Filing Jointly: $25,100 Standard Deduction
- Adjusted Gross Income (AGI): $100,000
- State and Local Taxes: $10,000
- Home Mortgage Interest: $6,000
- Gifts to Charity: $2,000
- Casualty & Theft Losses: $0
- Other Medical & Dental Expenses: $2,000
| 1 Year | 2 Years | 3 Years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| IVF Payments | $45,000 | $22,500 | $15,000 |
| Deductible Medical Expenses Above $7,500 | $39,500 | $17,000 | $9,500 |
| Total Itemized Deductions | $57,500 | $35,000 | $27,500 |
| Improvement Over Standard Deduction | $32,400 | $9,900 | $2,400 |
| Federal Taxes Saved @ 22% | $7,128 | $2,178 | $528 |
| California Taxes Saved @ 9.3% | $3,013 | $202 | $49 |
| Interim Total | $10,141 once | $2,380 twice | $577 thrice |
| Grand Total | $10,141 | $4,760 | $1,731 |
Writing Off IVF Costs
Couples who merely write off In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) expenses on their taxes in April could be throwing money away. Instead, take proactive steps fourteen months earlier (in January) to maximize your refund.
Bunch your payments for all IVF treatment costs into a single calendar year rather than spreading them around!
Consolidate Treatment
Consolidating infertility and IVF treatment expenses and payments into a single calendar year is the best way to get the most money back on your taxes. IRS rules state you can include medical expenses you paid this year but not care you will receive in a future year.
As you will see below, you do not realize any savings until your annual spending exceeds two critical levels.
- Total itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction
- Unreimbursed medical and dental expenses surpass 7.5% of AGI
The industry supports three programs designed to make IVF more affordable and conveniently increase tax savings!
Financing & Loans
IVF financing and loans make it more feasible to bunch payments to the fertility clinic into one calendar year and maximize the amount you get back on your tax refund. Plus, the extra funding could make bringing home a baby more affordable in a way you might not expect.
For instance, several optional tax-deductible treatments improve success rates, reducing the number of cycles needed to conceive – if you have enough money to pay the bill for the extras.
- Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
- Donor eggs and sperm
Multi-Cycle Discounts
Multi-cycle IVF discounts offer a terrific incentive to group treatment into a single calendar year to maximize your tax refund. These programs lower prices by a hefty percentage for prepayment on two or more fresh cycles.
In this case, you enjoy a double markdown by squeezing the spending into one calendar year instead of spreading things out over time.
- Lower prices from the multi-cycle discount offering
- Bigger tax refunds enabled by the prepayment requirement
Shared-Risk
IVF shared-risk programs provide another good reason to consolidate treatment for one year and get more money back on your taxes simultaneously. With these arrangements, you pay upfront for three discounted cycles and get a partial refund if pregnancy does not occur.
In this case, you could get a refund regardless of the outcome.
- Pregnancy happens, and condensed payments yield a hefty tax reduction
- Pregnancy does not occur, and the clinic returns a portion of your money
Overcome Two Thresholds
Even though IVF is tax-deductible, many couples cannot write off their infertility expenses because they do not meet two IRS thresholds, so consolidating your payments for treatment in one calendar year is critical.
Standard Deduction
The first floor is the standard deduction. The total of all itemized deductions must exceed this threshold, or your IVF expenses will yield zero tax savings.
Standard Deduction
- Single or Married Separately $13,850
- Head of Household $20,800
- Married Filing Jointly $27,700
Itemized Deductions
- Charitable Donations
- Mortgage Interest & PMI Premiums
- State & Local Property Taxes
- Casualty & Theft Losses
- Unreimbursed Medical & Dental Expenses above 7.5% of AGI
7.5% AGI Limitation
7.5% of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is the second floor. You do not begin saving money until your yearly unreimbursed medical and dental payments exceed this hurdle.
IRS Topic 502 provides a comprehensive listing of qualified expenses. You want to claim every possible entry.
General Medical Expenses
| Individual health & dental insurance premiums | Vision care (exams, eyeglasses, contact lenses, etc.) |
| Annual deductibles | Auditory care (exams, hearing aids, etc.) |
| Copayments | Travel and lodging costs necessary for treatment |
| Coinsurance | Prescription medications, weight-loss & smoking cessation programs |
Infertility & IVF Expenses
| Donor eggs & sperm | Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) laboratory fees |
| Temporary egg or sperm freezing | Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) |
| Fertility medications | Consultation fees |
Pregnancy & Childbirth Expenses
| Prenatal care | Neonatal Intensive Care |
| Sonograms | Breast pumps |
| Hospital labor & delivery | Pediatrics |
