Deductible medical expenses include wages and other amounts you pay for nursing services, in your home or in another care facility. The person performing the services does not necessarily need to be a nurse, as long as the services are connected with caring for the patient’s condition. If the person also performs personal and household services, only the amounts spent for nursing services are deductible as a medical expense. In this case it will be necessary to determine the amount of time the person spends on nursing services and allocate the cost accordingly.
Qualified Long-Term Care Service
Qualified long-term care services required by a chronically ill individual, that are part of a plan prescribed by a licensed medical practitioner, are deductible provided they constitute necessary diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, curing, treating, mitigating, rehabilitative services, and maintenance and personal care services.
Capital Expenses
Certain improvements you make to your home or special equipment you add in order to accommodate a disabled member of your household may be included as a medical expense, if the main purpose of the improvements or installation of the equipment was for the medical care of you, your spouse, or a dependent who lives with you. If the permanent improvements increase the value of your property, you will need to reduce the amount of the medical expense deduction by the increase in value of your property. If the improvement had no effect on the value of your property, the entire cost of the improvement is a deductible medical expense, The following are examples of some of these types of improvements:
Constructing entrance and exit ramps or modifying the areas in front of entrance and exit doorways
Grading the ground to provide easier access
Widening doorways at entrances or exits , hallways, stairways, and interior doorways
Installing railings, support bars, or other modifications to bathrooms
Lowering or modifying kitchen cabinets and equipment
Moving or modifying electrical outlets and mixtures
Installing lifts or elevators
Modifying fire alarms, smoke detectors, and other warning systems
Adding handrails or grab bars anywhere (whether or not in bathrooms)
Modifying hardware on doors.
The cost of these capital improvements must be reasonable in accommodating a home to a disabled condition. There is a worksheet in Publication 502 to calculate the amount you can deduce for capital expenses. If a person with a disability rents a home, the amounts paid to have special plumbing mixtures or other implements installed are also deductible medical expenses.
The cost of special equipment installed in a car, so that a disabled person can drive it, is a deductible medical expense. And the cost difference between a regular car and a car specially designed for a wheelchair is deductible.