Personally I would have the taxes done by a professional. I did that when I was Trustee and POA for my brother. I was informed that 5,000 per month doesn't figure for the IRS at all. It must be the very expensive MC to get any tax writeoff due to it. I would check with a professional tax preparer or call the IRS.
Alva, my brother in law is on Medicaid and his share of cost to the nursing home is over $30,000/year (certainly less than $5000/month); that combined with his insurance and other uncovered medical expenses makes it well worth itemizing because he then owes no taxes on his social security and small pensions. Medical expenses that are more then 7.5% of your income are deductible if you itemize. Maybe you were given that advice about your brother's tax write-off because he was in a higher income bracket so he'd have to have significantly higher medical expenses to hit the 7.5% floor; also, if medical was the only itemizable deduction, the standard deduction may have been better than itemizing.
First, the long-term care must be medically necessary. It may include preventive, therapeutic, treatments, rehabilitative, personal care or other services. (See IRS Publication 502 for a full list of qualifying services.) The cost of meals and lodging at an assisted-living facility or nursing home is included if the main reason for being there is to get qualified medical care.
Second, the care must also be for a chronically ill person and provided under a care plan prescribed by a licensed health care practitioner. A person is “chronically ill” if he or she can’t perform at least two activities of daily living—such as eating, bathing or dressing—without help for at least 90 days. This condition must be certified in writing within the last year. Anyone with a severe cognitive impairment, such as dementia, is also considered chronically ill if supervision is needed to protect his or her health and safety.
We use the H&R Block program to do our taxes and those of my brother in law who's in a nursing home . We enter his nursing home monthly charges in the deductions section of the program, under medical expenses in the category of "other eligible expenses." If there are separate charges being paid for things such as pharmacy, PT, Dr., etc., those are itemized in their respective categories (e.g., "doctors, dentists and other medical care providers," "prescriptions, etc.").
I'm also a trained AARP tax aide volunteer, so am pretty familiar with medical tax deductions, but do check the IRS publication I referenced above for official guidance.
I use Turbo Tax, but to deduct allowable medical expenses, your father must itemize, rather than take the standard deduction. The MC facility should have given you an itemization of how much of his bill each month is attributable to "medical expenses", which can be deducted if they are more than 7.5% (I believe) of his income.
There is an 800# for H and R Block which you can call and they will help you.
Second, the care must also be for a chronically ill person and provided under a care plan prescribed by a licensed health care practitioner. A person is “chronically ill” if he or she can’t perform at least two activities of daily living—such as eating, bathing or dressing—without help for at least 90 days. This condition must be certified in writing within the last year. Anyone with a severe cognitive impairment, such as dementia, is also considered chronically ill if supervision is needed to protect his or her health and safety.
We use the H&R Block program to do our taxes and those of my brother in law who's in a nursing home . We enter his nursing home monthly charges in the deductions section of the program, under medical expenses in the category of "other eligible expenses." If there are separate charges being paid for things such as pharmacy, PT, Dr., etc., those are itemized in their respective categories (e.g., "doctors, dentists and other medical care providers," "prescriptions, etc.").
I'm also a trained AARP tax aide volunteer, so am pretty familiar with medical tax deductions, but do check the IRS publication I referenced above for official guidance.
There is an 800# for H and R Block which you can call and they will help you.