Nursing Home Care and Tax Questions

Yes, assuming that you provided more than half his support for the year. See IRS Publication 502.

-- Phil Marti Clarksburg, MD

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Steve) posted:

Parents and other close relatives hold an exceptional position, when it comes to the relationship test for dependency. They can be claimed so long as you paid more than half the cost of "maintaining their home" for the tax year -- even if they live elsewhere. So long as you meet that test, you can not only deduct the medical costs (in this case, for a nursing home), but also claim your father as a dependent. I am assuming he is not still filing his own return jointly with his spouse, and the "bit higher" than $3300 -- the 2006 level of "independence" -- is not $10,000 or so (which would make it difficult, though not impossible, to qualify as "providing more than half the cost"). Bill

paying your father's nursing home bill should be considered in determining his support ___________________________________

-----> real address on hobokeni or hobokenx

You can deduct his medical expenses that you pay if he is a U.S. citizen or national or a resident of the United States, Canada, or Mexico and you provided more than half of his total support and he has a taxpayer ID.

This is wrong. What's unique about parents, and only parents, is that they can be qualifying relatives for Head of Household filing status without living with you. They must qualify as dependents, including the gross income test, for this to be true. What's unique about medical expenses, which was OP's question, is that you can deduct them if paid for someone who would qualify as a dependent except for the gross income and joint return tests. Publications 501 and 502.

-- Phil Marti Clarksburg, MD

Have you determined whether you have a legal obligation to support your father under applicable state law? If you have a legal obligation to support him, then medical payments you make in satisfaction of that obligation are deductible medical expenses incurred by you.

Do you have a 26 USC cite for that? There are lots of things that are required by state law that aren't deductible for Federal income tax. For example, auto registration fees, sales tax, state excise taxes, etc.

-- Phil Marti Clarksburg, MD

Yes. You ignore the Gross Income test when determining if he is your dependent for medical purposes. See IRS Pub 502.

-- Art Kamlet ArtKamlet @ AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

Good information.

Related question: If 3 siblings were to equally share father's nursing home expenses, none of the 3 would meet the "provided half of the qualifying relative's support" test. Would this mean no tax deduction for any of them?

-HW "Skip" Weldon Columbia, SC

As to the general issue of legal obligations of support, see, e.g., PLR 8135032 (6/1/1981), to the effect that, if person A has a legal obligation under applicable state law to support person B, amounts paid by A for B's support do not constitute gifts to B. As to deductibility of amounts paid for medical expenses of an ailing father, Section 213 provides a deduction for medical expenses paid on behalf of a "dependent." 213(a). In particular, "dependent" is defined, for purposes of Section 213, without regard to whether the putative dependent meets the maximum income limitation requirement of Section 152(d)(1)(B). See Section 213(a)("dependent(as defined in section 1523, determined without regard to subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), and (d)(1)(B) thereof)"). Thus, provided that the OP provides over one-half of his father's support for the calendar year, any medical expenses the OP pays on his father's behalf should be deductible under Section 213. Second, to the extent that the OP has a legal obligation to support his father under applicable state law, payments made by the OP on his father's behalf will not constitute taxable gifts to his father.

What is really needed is to see if father is a dependent for medical purposes. IRS Pub 502 explains the rules, but if you look at the tests for Wualified relative, only the Support Test, the Relationship Test, and the citizenship/redident tests count. The gross income test and the joint return tests are ignored for medical dependents.

-- Art Kamlet ArtKamlet @ AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

Can you list any states where you know this to be true? I had heard this before, but in another newsgroup I could not respond with any specific states that require close relatives (children) to support elderly parents.

-Mark Bole

Not exactly.

The medical expenses that you paid to your medical dependent who you claim under a multiple support agreement, are deductible. But medical payments made by your two siblings who cannot claim this person as a dependent, perhaps because they signed away their rights under a multiple support agreement, cannot be claimed. See

-- Art Kamlet ArtKamlet @ AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

I understand that the law in California is that if you have a parent or child (of any age) who is destitute, you have a legal responsibility to take care of his necessary expenses. I have not researched this issue, though, and don't know to what extent it is currently accurate. Stu