By Stephen Fishman , J.D. · USC Gould School of Law
Updated by Bethany K. Laurence , Attorney · UC Law San Francisco
A number of tax deductions and exclusions benefit people who are on SSDI or SSI, and they can also gain from a few special rules for tax-advantaged savings and retirement accounts. These deductions and rules are in addition to several tax credits that help recipients of disability benefits.
First we'll look at deductions. A tax deduction reduces your taxable income, so the more deductions you have, the less income you'll have to be taxed, and the less tax you'll have to pay. The amount a deduction will save depends on your top tax rate. For example, if you're in the 12% tax bracket, a $100 deduction will save you $12 in income tax.
People with disabilities can benefit from a deduction for money they spend to be able to work, called "impairment-related work expenses," and people with low vision can benefit from a higher standard deduction. In addition, there's a tax credit for the disabled and a disabled dependent tax credit (discussed in our article on tax credits for the disabled).
If you have a disability that limits your ability to work or substantially limits a major life activity, such as walking, breathing, learning, or using your hands, the IRS allows you to deduct your impairment-related work expenses (IRWE) from any employment income or self-employment income.
IRWEs are the costs of disability-related services that you need to do your work. For example, a person who is hard of hearing could deduct the cost of a text telephone or assistive computer software. People with low vision can deduct blindness-related work expenses (BWE), such as the cost of Braille translation of work materials.
If you work as an employee, you can deduct these expenses only if you itemize your personal deductions on IRS Schedule A, instead of taking the standard deduction. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act increased the standard deduction by a large amount, fewer people now claim IRWEs (you should itemize your deductions only if all your personal deductions exceed the standard deduction).
If you do itemize your deductions, you can deduct the full amount of your unreimbursed impairment-related expenses from your income.
If you're self-employed, you can deduct IRWEs as business expenses on IRS Schedule C. IRWEs are deductible in full. They not only reduce your income taxes, but your self-employment (Social Security and Medicare) taxes as well.
Impairment-related work expenses can also be deducted from your income for the purposes of benefits eligibility. The Social Security Administration will consider IRWEs (and blind work expenses, or BWEs) when it assesses whether your work is substantial gainful activity (SGA) and whether your income is above the SSI income limits. In addition, IRWEs will be considered when you're applying for Medicaid or Medicare Part D subsidies.
If you're blind or have low vision that the IRS counts as blindness, you qualify for a larger "standard deduction."
To qualify for the larger standard deduction for blindness, the IRS uses a definition similar to Social Security's requirement for blindness: you must not be able to see better than 20/200 in the better eye with glasses or contact lenses, or your field of vision must be 20 degrees or less.
The standard deduction is the dollar amount you're allowed to deduct each year to account for personal expenses such as medical expenses, home mortgage interest and property taxes, and charitable contributions. You take the standard deduction instead of totaling up and deducting your actual personal expenses.
The amount you're allowed to deduct depends on your filing status and is adjusted for inflation each year. For instance, for the 2023 tax year, the standard deduction for a single person is $13,850. The standard deduction for a married couple filing a joint tax return is $27,700.
For the 2024 tax year, the standard deduction for a single person is $14,600. The standard deduction for a married couple filing a joint tax return is $29,200.
If you're blind, you get an additional deduction of $1,850 for the 2023 tax year. So if you're single, your standard deduction would be $15,700 for 2023. But if you're blind and married, each spouse who is blind gets only a $1,500 increase, for a total standard deduction of $30,700 for a blind couple in 2023.
The additional standard deduction for blind people increases a bit for the 2024 tax year. And if you're over 65 and blind, you get an even higher standard deduction.
Here are the figures for the 2024 tax year:
Marital Status
Type of Deduction
Amount of Deduction (2024)