Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I'm SO In.

Did you hear that the IRS is now offering a tax deduction for nursing mothers?  That is, that breast pumps and 'other breastfeeding supplies' will now be deductible?

Seriously?

What kind of "other breastfeeding supplies" do you suppose they're talking about?

Because I have some really effective supplies.  A pair of them, actually. They've put in years of service, and continue to do so. [Is this a retroactive deduction, do you think?]

I have some questions though. How would I figure my deduction?  Maybe it's like the 'home office deduction,' where you add up all the property taxes, heating, cooling, electricity, maintenance, etc that your home requires, then proportionally allot part of it as the 'office' expense based on square footage. Should I track the costs of running my body? Food, medicine, clothing and the like? But how would I determine the proportion of my 'equipment?' By weight? Volume? Surface area??? And is it to be measured at the start of lactation, or year's end? Maybe the 1040 instructions will just come with a chart: Find your height, cup size, and ta-da, the percent is done for you.

I've heard about the IRS hiring some 20,000 new agents. I think now I know why. All us nursing Mamas will need someone to double-check our figures. Where do you think they'll be getting the training for such audits? The TSA? I'd heard a lot of talk on the Right about Obama giving yet higher pay to federal union employees, but I had no idea these were the kind of 'benefits' being offered.

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