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Expenses Related to Residential Treatment for Child

I have two questions related to expenses I incurred in placing my daughter in a residential treatment center (on the recommendation of her psychiatrist):

Are these deductible as medical expenses:

  1. Fee paid to an educational consultant to advise on type of facility and to recommend specific facilities for our consideration.

  1. Retainer paid to an attorney for a case seeking funding my daughter's treatment from the school district. If this is not deductible for 2008, do I subtract this from the taxable income I should eventually receive from this case? Whatever I receive from this case will be taxable since it will be reimbursement for expenses that I am deducting for 2008.

-- Peter Schleifer "Save me from the people who would save me from myself"

Reply to
Peter Schleifer
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to see ifyour item is covered. You can also ask the educational consultant ifthey know.

Why would the income be taxable if it is a reimbursement? You should try to get your attorney to mark the payment as a reimbursement, and there not taxable. If the income your lawyer would recovers is taxable, then the fees you paid your lawyer are deductible on Schedule A subject to the 2% of AGI limit (and the deduction is not allowed under AMT).

Reply to
removeps-groups

502 doesn't mention consultants as either allowed or disallowed. My consultant will be very reluctant to give any tax advice, though she probably would know better than than an accountant who might not have dealt with the issue before.

If I recover anything in 2009 or whenever, it is taxable because it is reimbursement for an expense I am deducting for 2008. Anyway the retainer does not seem to qualify as a medical expense unless I stretch it a bit - the only legal fees I see specifically mentioned in

502 are expenses needed to authorize treatment for mental illness, which isn't what my case is about.

-- Peter Schleifer "Save me from the people who would save me from myself"

Reply to
Peter Schleifer

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