Figure 1
The medical expense deduction, as the IRS describes it
No tax saving is calculated here.
| Current online publication return year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Hearing-aid operating expenses | Hearing aid, batteries, repairs and maintenance needed to operate it |
| Medical-expense AGI floor (%) | 7.5 |
| Payment-year rule | Use medical expenses paid in the year, subject to stated exceptions |
| Schedule A reporting | Eligible medical expenses are itemized on Schedule A |
Figure 2
Standard deductions for the tax year
The medical deduction helps only if you itemize instead of taking the standard deduction.
| Married filing jointly / surviving spouse | 32200 |
|---|---|
| Head of household | 24150 |
| Unmarried other than surviving spouse / head of household | 16100 |
| Married filing separately | 16100 |
How to read these numbers (2)
- A qualified expense is different from an allowable itemized deduction. No adjusted gross income, tax rate, refund or eligibility calculation is offered.
- Publication and instruction years are retained. Base standard deductions are reference values, not a determination that any reader should itemize.
What Publication 502 counts for a hearing aid
Publication 502 gives hearing aids a one-line entry: you can include in medical expenses the cost of a hearing aid and batteries, repairs, and maintenance needed to operate it. That covers three kinds of spending:
- The device itself.
- Batteries needed to operate it.
- Repairs and maintenance needed to operate it.
The entry makes these costs medical expenses. It does not make them deductible on its own. Four other rules in the same IRS material decide whether any of the amount reaches Schedule A: the income floor, reimbursements, the year of payment and the choice to itemize.
The 7.5% floor applies to the year's total, not to the aid
Publication 502 lets you deduct only the part of your medical and dental expenses that is more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). The Schedule A instructions repeat the rule and take the AGI from Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 11b.
The hearing aid is added to the medical and dental expenses you paid in the same year, and the floor is measured against that combined total. A purchase that stays under the floor, alone or with your other bills, deducts nothing.
This page does not compute the excess for you. It depends on your AGI and on every other medical bill of the year, two figures we do not have.
Insurance, Medicare, FSA and HSA money comes off first
Only spending that nobody else paid back counts. Publication 502 sets three limits that touch a hearing aid purchase:
- Insurance and Medicare. You must reduce your total medical expenses for the year by all reimbursements you receive from insurance or other sources during the year, and this includes payments from Medicare.
- Flexible spending arrangement. Amounts fully reimbursed by an FSA that you fund with part of your income on a pre-tax basis cannot be included.
- Health savings account. Expenses paid with a tax-free HSA distribution cannot be included, and you cannot use other funds equal to that distribution to claim the same expenses.
The same dollar cannot be counted in an account and on Schedule A. Our hearing aid FSA and HSA page covers the account side, with the 2026 contribution limits.
The year you pay decides the return
Publication 502 lets you include only the medical expenses you paid during the year, not payments for care you will receive in a future year. It sets one exception, for the expenses of a decedent.
Two details come from the same passage:
- Payment date. If you pay by check, the day you mail or deliver the check is, as the default rule, the date of payment.
- A different clock for FSAs. The IRS states that this year-paid rule is not the rule for deciding whether a flexible spending arrangement can reimburse an expense; that question belongs to the account's own rules.
The IRS editions online are for 2025 returns
When we read them in October 2026, the Publication 502 page on IRS.gov was marked "For use in preparing 2025 Returns", and the Schedule A instructions referred to distributions received in 2025. Every rule quoted on this page comes from those editions.
We do not relabel them as 2026 guidance. Before you file a return that includes a hearing aid paid in 2026, check the edition line at the top of Publication 502 and of the Schedule A instructions.
2026 standard deductions, the amount itemizing has to beat
The Schedule A instructions say that in most cases your federal income tax will be less if you take the larger of your itemized deductions or your standard deduction. For tax year 2026, the IRS revenue procedure on inflation adjustments sets these base standard deductions:
- Married filing jointly or surviving spouse: $32,200.
- Head of household: $24,150.
- Unmarried, other than surviving spouse or head of household: $16,100.
- Married filing separately: $16,100.
These are base amounts. The same revenue procedure sets a separate standard deduction for a person who can be claimed as a dependent, which the table leaves out. Whether your itemized total passes your standard deduction is a comparison for you or your tax preparer; the table does not make it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim my hearing aid on my taxes?
Yes, if you itemize. Publication 502 counts the cost of a hearing aid, plus the batteries, repairs and maintenance needed to operate it, as a medical expense. On Schedule A you deduct only the part of the year's total medical expenses above 7.5% of your AGI, after insurance and Medicare reimbursements are taken off.
Can you claim anything if you wear hearing aids?
The running costs count too. Publication 502 lists batteries, repairs and maintenance needed to operate a hearing aid as medical expenses, alongside the device. They go in the year you pay them and face the same 7.5% AGI floor as the rest of your medical bills.
What medical expenses are not tax deductible?
For a hearing aid, Publication 502 leaves out what you did not pay yourself: amounts reimbursed by insurance or Medicare, amounts fully reimbursed by a pre-tax FSA, and expenses paid with a tax-free HSA distribution. The share of your total medical expenses that stays below 7.5% of AGI is not deductible either.
What benefits can I claim if I have hearing loss?
On the federal tax side, this page covers the itemized medical-expense deduction, which includes a hearing aid and its batteries, repairs and maintenance. Programs that pay toward the device itself are listed on our free hearing aids page and our hearing aid insurance page.
Sources
Rules are quoted from IRS Publication 502 and the Schedule A instructions as served on IRS.gov in October 2026, both editions for 2025 returns, and from the IRS revenue procedure that sets 2026 standard deductions. No income, tax rate, refund or itemizing decision is calculated.
Cost and coverage research, not medical advice and not tax advice. IRS editions change each year; confirm the rules for your return year with the IRS or a tax preparer.