Let me add something about memory care to help you and your mother out.
If a person is in assisted living, only nursing services are deductible medical expenses. Nursing services don't have to be provided by a nurse, but they have to be the kind of services that nurses perform (like dispensing medication, assistance with dressing, eating, toileting, and so on). The facility would have to provide a breakdown for you. Costs for room and board, laundry, and other things are not deductible.
However, the entire cost can be deductible if your mother meets 3 tests.
1. Your mother is chronically ill with a disease lasting at least a year or expected to lead to death.
2. Your mother requires assistance with 2 or more activities of daily living (ADLs are eating, bathing, toileting, transferring, dressing, and managing continence) OR your mother requires supervision to prevent her from becoming a danger to herself or others.
3. The care is provided according to a written care plan that was developed by a qualified medical person or social worker and is updated at least once a year.
Depending on your mother's condition, she might meet the tests today, or maybe not now but eventually. The requirement for a written care plan is what will trip up most people. If your mother's condition meets the test and you get a written care plan, she can deduct the entire cost of her assisted living facility as a medical expense.
Also lastly, if you don't have a power of attorney, you should get one if she is still competent to give you one. And you will need the POA to e-file her tax return, unless you are just helping to prepare it and she is competent to file it.
