Deductions & credits

Maybe.

"Your parent must first meet income requirements set by the Internal Revenue Service to be claimed as your dependent. To qualify as a dependent,

• Your parent must not have earned or received more than the gross income test limit for the tax year.
• This amount is determined by the IRS and may change from year to year.
• The gross income limit for 2024 is $5,050 and increases to $5,200 for 2025.
• Generally, you do not count Social Security income, but there are exceptions. If your parent has other income from interest or dividends, a portion of the Social Security may also be taxable.

You must have provided more than half of your parent's support during the tax year in order to claim them as a dependent. The amount of support you provided must also exceed your parent's income by at least one dollar.

If you paid for your parent's medical care, you may be able to claim medical expenses as an itemized deduction on Schedule A.  Itemized deductions are beneficial when they exceed the amount of the Standard Deduction you are allowed to claim.

• You can deduct your parent's medical expenses even if they do not meet the income requirement to be claimed as your dependent as long as you provide more than half of their support.
• Your total medical expenses, including all costs for prescription drugs, equipment, hospital care and doctor's visits, must exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income to claim these expenses."

For more information, please see this helpful TurboTax article: Steps to Claiming an Elderly Parent as a Dependent

You can deduct qualified unreimbursed medical, dental, or vision costs on your federal return, if you itemize your deductions (on Schedule A) instead of taking the Standard Deduction. 

If you itemize, you can deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI)

The IRS has an extensive list of what you can and can’t deduct.  IRS Pub. 502 Medical and Dental Expenses (beginning on page 5).  (Nursing Home - pg.11)

Enter Medical Expenses:

1. Open your return (if not already open)
2. Enter "medical expenses" or "Schedule A" in the Search box.
3. Click on "jump to medical expenses (or Schedule  A)" link.
4. Enter your information.

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