The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that amounts paid by individuals for certain personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, sanitizing wipes, and hand sanitizer—for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of COVID-19 (the disease that results from SARS-CoV-2)—are treated as expenses incurred for medical care under Internal Revenue Code Section 213(d) (Announcement 2021-7 (Mar. 26, 2021)). Accordingly, these amounts may be deductible under the Code or reimbursed under health flexible spending arrangements (health FSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), health savings accounts (HSAs), or Archer medical savings accounts (Archer MSAs).

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