Possibly. In order to claim your father as a dependent, in addition to what you listed above, you would have to pay for OVER half of his living expenses.
Living expenses include, food, housing, clothing, medical, transportation, etc.
To claim someone as a Qualifying Relative, they must be:
- Your child ( including step children, adoptive children and foster children) or a descendent of them
- Your sibling (including half siblings) or a child of your sibling or a sibling-in-law
- Your parent or grandparents, including step parents and in laws
- Any other person that lived with you for the entire tax year
- Not a qualifying child of another taxpayer
- Someone that you provided over half of their support for during the tax year
- Has less than $5,050 in income (not counting social security)
If he does meet the criteria to be a qualifying relative, then you may be able to claim the $500 Non-Refundable Other Dependent Credit as well as file as Head of Household.
However, in order to deduct the medical expenses you are paying for him, you would need to itemize your return instead of taking the standard deduction. Itemized expenses include mortgage interest, gambling losses up to winnings, charitable contributions, state and local taxes up to $10,000, medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI and casualty and losses in excess of 10% of you AGI with the first $100 not counting towards the loss. Your health insurance and all medical expenses are only deductible for the amount that is over 7.5% of your AGI. This means if your AGI is $50,000, then the amount that is over $3,750 is deductible.
Then your total itemized expenses would need to be greater than your standard deduction below in order to benefit from your expenses.
The 2024 Standard Deductions are as follows:
- Married Filing Joint (MFJ) $29,200
- Married Filing Separate (MFS) $14,600
- Head of Household (HOH) $21,900
- Single $14,600
Blind or over 65 and MFJ or MFS add $1,550
Single or HOH if blind or over 65 add $1,950
Standard versus Itemized Deduction
Steps to Claiming an Elderly Parent as a Dependent
**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"
