Lawyers attack credibility of U.S. tax agency witness in sex-change case

IHT.com – The Associated Press

Boston: A woman should be allowed to deduct her $25,000 (?18,440) sex change operation on her federal taxes because her gender identity disorder was a medical condition, her lawyers argued Thursday.

The U.S. tax agency would not let Rhiannon O’Donnabhain take the deduction, claiming that her sex change operation was cosmetic, and not medically necessary.

O’Donnabhain is suing the Internal Revenue Service to get the deduction accepted in a potentially precedent setting case that could affect thousands of people a year in the United States who undergo similar operations.