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Mom has been in Memory Care since early this year. After a stroke in 2022, her mental and physical states have significantly deteriorated. She has had to transition from our home to Assisted Living, and now to Memory Care. Unfortunately she does not have Long-Term Care Insurance, so she is paying everything out-of-pocket. Since Medicare (and supplemental insurance) does not pay for non-medical components of Memory Care living, I am looking closely at the tax rules on medical deductions in IRS publications, specifically Publication 502 which outlines allowable medical expenses. It states, "You can include in medical expenses the cost of medical care in a nursing home, home for the aged, or similar institution, for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents. This includes the cost of meals and lodging in the home if a principal reason for being there is to get medical care. Don't include the cost of meals and lodging if the reason for being in the home is personal.” Another section of that same publication discusses long-term care services for chronically ill individuals and describes them as such: “if, within the previous 12 months, a licensed health care practitioner has certified that the individual meets either of the following descriptions: 1) The individual is unable to perform at least two activities of daily living without substantial assistance from another individual for at least 90 days, due to a loss of functional capacity. Activities of daily living are eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, and continence. 2) The individual requires substantial supervision to be protected from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment.”. Both of these descriptions fit Mom. Based on this wording, I strongly believe that Mom should qualify for the full cost of Memory Care based on substantial assistance for ADL and substantial supervision needed. Am I wrong? Is anyone else in this network in the same situation? If so, was there a specific form you needed from the "licensed health care practitioner" to justify this and did you run into issues with the IRS, such as an audit? Of course, we want to be perfectly legal,
I know that Medicaid might be an end option if she exhausts her resources, but we are hoping to avoid getting to that point, and it seems that the medical tax deduction would help tremendously. Any advice or insights would be appreciated!!
Hi! First up, I’m answering this based on a lawyer’s understanding of what you have quoted, I have no other knowledge. I qualified in South Australia and requalified in London England, not in the USA. Based on that, I’d say that you can go ahead with a certification from a licensed health care practitioner. No form is indicated, but clearly it should be on letterhead with all the qualification ‘tickets’ stated including license number if appropriate. My advice is to get a mainstream doctor, not a chiropractor or any ‘practitioner’ on the ‘maybe’ side. If you do that and it is questioned, if M gets knocked back there shouldn’t be any penalty because it is clearly genuine. So nothing to lose except the ‘practitioner’s’ fee. I’d give it a go. I don't think a local lawyer's appointment would give you any better protection than this. You can quote me if it helps. Best wishes, Margaret McKenzie LLB FCCA
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(author note here...) MargaretMcKen, good point. She files taxes for herself (of course, with our help!), so the medical deduction would be for her, not on our form with her as a dependent. She is not our dependent, and has none of her own.
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It would help if you could make it quite clear if you are looking at M claiming as ‘yourself’ on her own tax return, rather than you claiming for her as a ‘dependent’ on your tax return.
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MurfPete 6 hours ago
MargaretMcKen, good point. She files taxes for herself (of course, with our help!), so the medical deduction would be for her, not on our form with her as a dependent. She is not our dependent, and has none of her own.
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