Example

• Under IRS rules, you may deduct medical expenses once they pass 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. If you are obese or suffer from hypertension, your doctor may tell you to exercise to treat your obesity or hypertension. So, if you go to the gym and wouldn't have done so unless the doctor told you to, you can add the cost of your membership to your annual medical expenses and deduct them to the extent that they surpass 7.5 percent of AGI.
  
  

Merely Beneficial

• The key is that your doctor must order you go to the gym. If you go anyway, it's not deductible, even if it is good for you. According to the IRS, "An expenditure that is merely beneficial to the general health of an individual is personal and is not for medical care."
  
  

Scrutiny

• When determining if your gym membership is tax deductible, the IRS will look at the existence of a disease and how a gym membership relates to treatment. The taxpayer's motives may also be scrutinized as well as the effectiveness of the treatment and proximity in time to the onset of the disease. If you are already going to the gym, going to your doctor to obtain a prescription probably won't survive an audit.
  
  

Employer Benefits

• If your employer operates a gym and allows you to use it for free or at a reduced cost, the use of the use of the gym is not taxed as compensation. The employer-operated gym must be used primarily by employees and their spouses. If your employer provides membership in a health club or gym that it does not operate, then the value of that benefit is taxable.