Yes, IVF is tax deductible under federal law as a medical expense, but with two catches that decide whether you see any actual tax savings: you can only deduct the portion of your total medical costs that exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, and you have to itemize deductions instead of taking the standard deduction. The IRS treats fertility procedures as medical care, so egg retrieval, embryo transfer, lab fees, fertility medications, and related costs for you or your spouse fall under the same deduction as any other medical expense.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses
The 7.5% AGI Floor and Whether Itemizing Pays
Internal Revenue Code Section 213 lets you deduct unreimbursed medical expenses only to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your AGI.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 213 – Medical, Dental, Etc., Expenses With $100,000 of AGI, the first $7,500 of medical spending produces no deduction. Dollars above that floor reduce your taxable income.
The deduction lives on Schedule A, so it only helps if your itemized deductions — medical costs above the floor, state and local taxes, mortgage interest, charitable gifts — together beat the standard deduction. For 2026:3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
- Single or married filing separately: $16,100
- Married filing jointly: $32,200
- Head of household: $24,150
A single IVF cycle typically runs $15,000 to $30,000, which is often enough to clear the 7.5% floor and make itemizing worthwhile once other deductions are added. Before you calculate, subtract any insurance reimbursements; only your out-of-pocket spending counts.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses
Which IVF Costs Qualify
The IRS allows deductions for procedures performed on you, your spouse, or your dependent to overcome an inability to have children.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses For a standard IVF cycle that covers:
- Egg retrieval and embryo transfer performed on you or your spouse
- Laboratory and embryology fees
- Surgical costs and anesthesia
- Physician and nursing fees
- Prescription fertility medications for ovulation induction and hormonal support
- Temporary storage of eggs or sperm during treatment
Related fertility care qualifies under the same rule. Surgery to reverse a prior sterilization is explicitly listed in Publication 502, and diagnostic fertility testing, intrauterine insemination, and hormone therapy fall within the IRS definition of medical care when they diagnose or treat a condition.
On storage, Publication 502 covers “temporary storage of eggs or sperm” as part of fertility care, but the IRS generally does not allow prepayments for medical care to be provided substantially beyond the tax year. Annual storage fees paid during a year of active treatment are typically deductible for that year; indefinite cryopreservation fees are a grayer area worth running past a tax professional.
Travel and Lodging
Transportation for fertility appointments adds to your total. You can deduct mileage, parking, and tolls for trips primarily for medical care. The 2026 medical mileage rate is 20.5 cents per mile, and you can use that rate instead of tracking actual gas and maintenance.4Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate Log each trip with the date, destination, and purpose.
If you travel to a clinic far from home, lodging is deductible up to $50 per night per person, with a $100 combined cap when a spouse comes along. Meals during medical travel are not deductible, and the lodging can’t be lavish or double as a vacation.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses
What Doesn’t Qualify: Surrogacy and Donor Costs
The rule turns on whose body the procedure is performed on. Costs for procedures done on you, your spouse, or a dependent are deductible. Costs for procedures done on a third party are not, even when they are essential to building your family.
Surrogacy expenses fall outside the deduction. You cannot deduct amounts paid for identifying, retaining, compensating, or covering the medical care of a gestational surrogate, and the legal and agency fees for arranging a surrogacy are not deductible either.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses
Donor-side medical costs are the same story. Egg retrieval from a donor and donor screening and testing are performed on a third party’s body, so they are not deductible. Procedures on your own body remain deductible even in a donor-assisted cycle. In a private letter ruling, the IRS confirmed that when a taxpayer provides sperm, the medical costs of that collection and freezing are deductible because the procedure is performed on the taxpayer.5Internal Revenue Service. Private Letter Ruling PLR-107243-24 For couples who rely entirely on donors and a surrogate, most of the IVF-related spending will not qualify.
HSA and FSA Coordination
A Health Savings Account or Health Care Flexible Spending Account lets you pay qualifying fertility expenses with pre-tax dollars, which sidesteps the 7.5% floor and the need to itemize. For 2026, HSA contributions are capped at $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage.6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Notice on 2026 HSA Limits The health care FSA limit is $3,400, with up to $680 in carryover if your employer’s plan allows it.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
You can’t double-dip. Expenses paid with tax-free HSA or FSA dollars can’t also be claimed on Schedule A.7Internal Revenue Service. Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans If your out-of-pocket IVF spending is large enough to clear the AGI floor even after HSA and FSA use, one workable approach is to spend HSA and FSA funds on smaller, predictable fertility costs and pay the biggest bills out of pocket, so those larger amounts count toward the itemized deduction.
Claiming the Deduction
Report medical expenses on Schedule A (Form 1040). Enter total qualifying medical and dental expenses net of insurance reimbursements, and the form walks through subtracting 7.5% of AGI to arrive at the deductible amount. If the floor exceeds your total medical expenses, the deduction is zero.8Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Schedule A (Form 1040) – Itemized Deductions You can file electronically through IRS Free File, commercial tax software, or a preparer.9Internal Revenue Service. File Your Taxes for Free Don’t attach receipts to the return; keep them.
The date of payment, not the date of service, controls the tax year. A credit card charge counts in the year the charge was made, even if you carry the balance into the next year.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses
Records to Keep
Keep documentation for at least three years from the date you file.10Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records? Useful items:
- Itemized clinic invoices with dates, provider names, and treatment descriptions
- Pharmacy receipts for fertility medications
- Proof of payment such as credit card statements or cancelled checks
- Insurance explanations of benefits showing what was reimbursed
- Mileage logs with dates, destinations, and round-trip distances
Amending a Prior Year
If you took the standard deduction in a past year and now realize your fertility spending would have made itemizing better, you can file Form 1040-X. The deadline is generally three years from when you filed the original return or two years from when you paid the tax, whichever is later.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-X IVF spending often straddles calendar years, so check each year separately: a year with a full cycle may benefit from amending while a year with only follow-up costs may not.