Many caregivers and their aging loved ones rack up thousands of dollars every year in medical expenses. Depending on the total amount you've spent on a loved one'due south care in revenue enhancement yr 2020, you lot might be able to deduct some of those medical expenses on your taxes. This includes items and services non covered by Medicare, co-pays and deductibles, fifty-fifty the cost of gas used to send a senior to and from md's appointments.

Fifty-fifty if you can't claim your intendance recipient equally a dependent, you lot may nevertheless be able to write off some of their wellness intendance costs and further reduce your tax bill. However, there are some criteria that must exist met in order to take the deduction.

Claiming a Senior equally Your Dependent

"At that place are a number of requirements that a caregiver must meet to deduct medical expenses for themselves and the person they care for," explains Mark Luscombe, J.D., LL.G., CPA, chief analyst at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Bookkeeping.

Showtime and foremost, the care recipient must meet sure back up, income, relationship, citizenship and other tests to be claimed as a dependent by their caregiver.

Read: Can I Claim My Elderly Loved One as a Dependent on My Taxes?

In certain situations, y'all can deduct medical expenses you paid for an individual who would have been your dependent except that:

  • He or she received gross income of $4,300 or more than in 2020;
  • He or she filed a joint return for 2020; or
  • You lot, or your spouse if filing jointly, could be claimed as a dependent on someone else'southward 2020 return.

How Much Medical Expenses Can Be Deducted?

"Secondly, the medical expenses must be of the type approved past the IRS equally qualifying for the medical expense deduction," Luscombe says.

To qualify for the deduction, the total cost of your eligible unreimbursed medical expenses must exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI). For example, if your AGI is $50,000, then the start $3,750 of medical expenses are not deductible. Any eligible expenses above this amount would and then be deductible. If yous incurred $4,750 in medical expenses in 2020, then you lot would only be able to deduct $1,000 ($4,750 - $3,750).

This may seem like a high threshold, only consider the average costs of health care and long-term care in this land. According to Genworth's 2020 Price of Intendance Survey, the median monthly price for a mere 20 hours of home health care per week totals $two,080. In a year, this adds up to $24,960! The median cost of an assisted living facility is $4,300 per calendar month, and a semi-private room in a nursing home is $7,756 per month. Most caregivers can easily achieve their deduction threshold if they are helping an aging parent pay for long-term care services.

"If all these requirements are met, a caregiver tin become pregnant taxation benefits from writing off their own medical expenses, those of their spouse, if applicative, and those incurred on behalf of the person they care for," notes Luscombe.

So, take the time to add upwardly the corporeality of medical expenses y'all paid out of pocket during the year. If your unreimbursed medical expenses exceed your standard taxation deduction, you'll want to deduct those expenses on your tax return past claiming an itemized deduction on Schedule A (Form 1040). The standard deduction for taxation twelvemonth 2020 is $24,800 for those married filing jointly, $12,400 for single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately, and $18,650 for heads of household. Keep in mind that bullheaded taxpayers and those historic period 65 and older qualify for college standard deductions.

To meet what your standard deduction is, visit IRS.gov to employ the How Much Is My Standard Deduction? tool.

Examples of Tax Deductible Medical Expenses

  • Acupuncture
  • Adapters to Goggle box sets and telephones for hearing impaired individuals
  • Bandages
  • Braille books and magazines
  • Capital improvements to your home to adapt a disability
  • Automobile (the price of special equipment so a disabled person can drive)
  • Chiropractic services
  • Contact lenses plus wetting and cleaning solutions
  • Crutches
  • Dental care
  • Dentures
  • Diagnostic devices (such as a blood sugar test kit for someone with diabetes)
  • Eyeglasses
  • Center surgery
  • Hearing aids
  • Hospitalization
  • In-home health care (does NOT include custodial care services)
  • Insulin
  • Insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles for health insurance, dental and middle insurance, and long-term care insurance (including Medicare Part B and Function D premiums)
  • Laboratory fees
  • Lifetime care fees (a pct of fees paid under a lifetime contract with a continuing care retirement community)
  • Long-term care services prescribed by a licensed health intendance practitioner for a chronically ill individual
  • Meals (while staying in a hospital or like facility)
  • Nursing home and assisted living costs
  • Surgeries
  • Optometrist services
  • Oxygen therapy and related equipment
  • Prescription drugs and medicine (drugs from foreign pharmacies are not deductible)
  • Psychiatric care
  • Service animals
  • Stop-smoking programs
  • Therapy received every bit medical treatment
  • Transplants of organs
  • Transportation by taxi, coach, train, ambulance, personal machine, etc. to receive medical care
  • Weight-loss programs (if part of treatment for a specific disease or status, such as obesity)
  • Wheelchairs
  • X-rays

For more detailed data on what medical expenses are tax deductible and how to deduct medical expenses on your 2020 income tax return, encounter IRS Publication 502: Medical and Dental Expenses or consult a tax professional.