1. Home
  2. Taxes General Forum
  3. Medical Expense Deduction for Qualifying Relative

Medical Expense Deduction for Qualifying Relative

Pub 502 states a taxpayer can take a deduction for medical expenses paid on behalf of a Qualifying Relative "For whom you provided over half of the support in 2014."

I have two questions about the calculation of the "half of support."

1) Are the medical expense payments included in the support provided by the taxpayer?

2) Is the taxpayers support compared to the gross income of the Qualifying Relative, or the Net Income after deductions for Federal and State Income Tax, Social Security & Medicare? Or is the taxpayers share compared to the Adjusted Gross Income of the Qualifying Relative?

Reply to
Victor Roberts
Loading thread data ...

Yes, but only medical expenses that were not reimbursed by insurance can be included.

None of those. The amount of support provided by the taxpayer is compared to the support provided by everyone else, including the qualifying relative himself. Income is not support. If the qualifying relative puts some of his income in the bank and doesn't spend it, that income is not money spent on support. It's only support if it's used to pay for housing, food, clothing, or other components of support. See the discussion of "Total Support" in IRS Publication 501, beginning on page 20. You can use Worksheet 2 on page 16 of that publication to determine whether you provided more than half the support of the qualifying relative.

Bob Sandler

Reply to
Bob Sandler

Thanks. I'll check Pub 501. (I do know that only non-reimbursed medical expenses can be used for the deduction.)

Reply to
Victor Roberts

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.