In overturning existing tax rules, the court found that a sex change operation is not cosmetic and treats a disease, making it tax-deductible.

The court ruled that hormone therapies and sex reassignment surgeries were necessary to treat a gender identity disorder for a Boston man who became a woman called Rhiannon O’Donnabhain.

A civil engineer who joined the US Coast Guard during the Vietnam War and fathered three children in a 20-year marriage, O’Donnabhain sued after the Internal Revenue Service denied her deduction of $US25,000 in out-of-pocket medical costs associated with surgery and other care such as hormone treatments and counselling.

O’Donnabhain argued that her medical costs should not be considered any different to heart surgery.

Source: news.com.au