Rhiannon O’Donnabhain
via GLADIn a precedent-setting decision that could affect thousands, the US Tax Court ruled Tuesday that treatment for gender identity disorder (GID), including sex-reassignment surgery, qualifies as medical care and is therefore tax-deductable.
The case was brought on behalf of Rhiannon O’Donnabhain after the IRS in 2003 disallowed the $5000 deduction O’Donnabhain had claimed for the $25,000 cost of gender-identity treatments and sex-reassignment surgery.
O’Donnabhain sued after an IRS auditor ruled that her treatment was not tax-deductable because it had been merely “cosmetic”, Washington Post reported in 2007.
In yesterday’s ruling, the tax court said the IRS position was “thoroughly rebutted by the medical evidence.”
In an Wednesday interview, O’Donnabhain said, “The tax court has spoken for my community and has supported my community by saying that this is a proper medical deduction, much the same as an appendectomy or open heart surgery”, Associated Press reports.
“It certainly is not cosmetic surgery as the IRS contended,” she said.
Represented by attorneys from Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), O’Donnabhain began the drawn-out process of appealing the auditor’s 2003 ruling.
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