In-Home Care

[Leetpurple]

I have a 94 year old client who lives at home and has macular degeneration with limited vision.  She has round the clock in-home care. I am trying to determine whether any of this is tax deductible,  My research on Pub. 502 is not clear as to what is deductible and if so, how much. 

Line 6 of Medical  Expenses on Schedule A defines qualified long term care services to include maintenance or personal care service required by a chronically ill individual as prescribed by a licensed health care practitioner.

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

[BobKamman · Accepted solution]

Pub 502 spells it out as clearly as you will find it.  But my experience with blind people in their 90s is that they can live alone at home quite well.  Are you sure there are not other medical conditions that require her to have 24-hour care?  

[rivkah]

Generally speaking, the home care provider can/will set what percentage of the cost of their care may be considered as "medical".  Some home care is simply personal assistance which usually has no medical component.  

The same would be true if your client resided in Assisted Living or "indepenent living".