How close are you to the Schedule A floor?
Two numbers. Results appear as you type.
Annual adjusted gross income
GF food premium, co-pays, prescriptions, out-of-pocket premiums
How Schedule A's medical-expense floor works
- You can only deduct the portion of total unreimbursed medical expenses that exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) on Schedule A.
- For a person with celiac disease, qualifying medical expenses include the gluten-free food premium (the cost difference between GF and conventional equivalents), documented medical visits, labs, prescriptions, and eligible mileage.
- Clearing the 7.5% floor is the first test. You also need total itemized deductions to exceed the standard deduction for Schedule A to produce a tax benefit. Run both numbers with your CPA or tax professional.
- Expenses already paid through an HSA or FSA are excluded — they cannot also appear on Schedule A.
- A Letter of Medical Necessity from your physician and itemized receipts are required for the GF food premium. Estimates and reconstructed records are not sufficient.
How the 7.5% floor actually works
The threshold is a floor, not a switch. Your total qualifying medical expenses for the year must exceed 7.5% of your AGI before any of it can land on Schedule A, and even then you only count the amount above the floor, not the whole total.
A household with $100,000 AGI has a $7,500 floor.
With $6,000 in qualifying medical expenses, nothing reaches Schedule A: the total never cleared $7,500.
With $10,000 in qualifying expenses, $2,500 is reportable, the part above the floor.
Your AGI is your total income minus specific adjustments (things like student loan interest, traditional IRA contributions, or alimony paid). On a filed return it is on Line 11 of Form 1040. If you are estimating for the current year, use your expected income.
Clearing the floor is the first test, not the only one
Reaching the floor means you have expenses that could count. To actually see a benefit, your total itemized deductions (medical above the floor, plus state and local taxes up to the cap, mortgage interest, charitable giving) have to beat the standard deduction for your filing status. For the 2025 tax year the standard deduction is roughly $15,000 for single filers and $30,000 for married couples filing jointly; confirm the current figure, since it adjusts each year.
If your itemized total would not clear the standard deduction, taking the standard deduction is the better move, and the medical figure does not change your return.
What to do with this number
People with celiac disease often spend meaningfully more on groceries, and the IRS recognizes the excess cost of gluten-free food over its conventional equivalent for someone with a formal diagnosis, along with specialty items that have no conventional counterpart and the mileage for trips made specifically to buy them.
If you are close to or above the floor: start tracking carefully now. Save receipts, log the price difference between gluten-free items and their conventional equivalents, and make sure you have a physician’s written diagnosis and a Letter of Medical Necessity for the gluten-free diet. Gluten Hero’s free LMN template and documentation checklist cover both.
If you are well below the floor: tracking every box of gluten-free pasta may not yield a tax benefit this year, and that is useful to know too. You might keep a lighter record for your own budgeting and revisit the math if a year brings unusually high medical costs.
Tax situations are individual. If you think you will clear both the floor and the standard deduction, bring your documentation to your CPA or tax professional, who can confirm which expenses qualify and file Schedule A correctly.