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On a Schedule A attached to his 1992 return, petitioner
claimed medical expenses in the total amount of $7,960. In the
statutory notice of deficiency, respondent disallowed any
deduction for $2,696 of the claimed expenses on the ground that
petitioner did not establish that the disallowed amount meets the
requirements of section 213. This disallowed amount represents
the costs which petitioner claimed for his special diet.
Section 213(a) allows as a deduction the expenses paid
during the taxable year, not compensated by insurance or
otherwise, for the medical care of the taxpayer, to the extent
that such expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income.
The term "medical care" includes the diagnosis, cure, mitigation,
treatment, or prevention of disease. Sec. 1.213-1(e)(1)(i),
Income Tax Regs. Deductions for expenditures for medical care
allowable under section 213 are confined strictly to expenses
paid primarily for the prevention or alleviation of a physical or
mental defect or illness. Sec. 1.213-1(e)(1)(ii), Income Tax
Regs. An expenditure which is merely beneficial to the general
health of an individual is not an expenditure for medical care.
Id.
We have held that the additional costs of obtaining
medically required foods are deductible as expenditures for
medical care. Randolph v. Commissioner, 67 T.C. 481 (1976); Cohn
v. Commissioner, 38 T.C. 387 (1962); Von Kalb v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 1978-366. On the other hand, we have rejected
taxpayers' claims for deductions for special foods which were
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