Rev. Rul. 58-8

Reconsideration has been given to item 13 of Revenue Ruling 55-261, C.B. 1955-1, 307, at 311, which concerns the deductibility as medical expense of the cost of a three-wheel motor vehicle commercially known as an `autoette,' acquired by a total disabled taxpayer for his personal transportation.

Medical expenses incurred and paid within a taxable year by an individual taxpayer are allowable as a deduction for Federal income tax purposes under section 213 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, within the limitations prescribed by that section. For the purposes of section 213, the term `medical care' means amounts paid for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or for the purpose of affecting any structure or function of the body and for transportation primarily for and essential to medical care.

In item 13 of Revenue Ruling 55-261, supra , it was held that the cost of a small three-wheel vehicle commercially known as an `autoette,' acquired for transportation purposes by a disabled taxpayer, is not an expense incurred primarily for the alleviation of a physical defect or illness as provided in section 39.23(x)-1(d)(2) of Regulations 118, but represented a nondeductible personal expense under section 24(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939. The regulations promulgated under section 23(x) and section 24(a)(1) of the 1939 Code were made applicable to the 1954 Code by T.D. 6091, C.B. 1954-2, 46, pending the issuance of the new regulations under the 1954 Code.

Upon reconsideration it is now held that where a person who is sick or disabled acquires an `autoette,' or a wheel chair, either manually operated or self-propelled, and uses it primarily for the alleviation of his sickness or disability and not merely to provide transportation between his residence and place of employment, the cost of the `autoette,' or the wheel chair, constitutes an allowable medical expense under section 213 of the Code.

Revenue Ruling 55-261, item 13, C.B. 1955-1, 307, at 311, is modified to the extent that it holds the cost of a small three-wheel vehicle commercially known as an `autoette,' acquired for transportation purposes, irrespective of the taxpayer's physical condition, constitutes a nondeductible personal expense.