Yes, if your parents qualify as your dependents. These medical expenses must be entered as an Itemized deduction in Schedule A of which only the amount above 10% of your AGI counts towards the Medical Deduction. For Example if your AGI is $20,000.00 and the Medical Expenses are $5000.00 the amount that will be allowed deductible as Medical Expenses in Schedule A will be $3,000.00. Additionally if the sum of Itemized Deductions in your Schedule A do not exceed the amount of your Standard Deduction, Schedule A will not be beneficial to your Tax Return.
Below are the Standard Deduction Amounts for 2016 and the requirements for claiming a parent as a dependent. I have also attached a checklist of Common Itemized Deductions so that you can make an informed decision when choosing your deduction:
Standard Deduction
- Single $6,300.00
- Married Filing Joint
or Qualified Widow(er) $12,600.00
- Married Filing
Separate $6,300.00
- Head of Household
$9300.00
- Dependent $1,050.00
Qualifying Relative
"Four tests must be met for a person to be your qualifying relative. The four tests are:
1. They pass the Not A Qualifying Child Test since they are not Children.
2. They also pass the Member of Household or Relationship test because even though they don't live with you they are related to you in such a way that allows a exception to this rule.
3. Gross Income Test; You must be able to verify that they do not earn more than $4050.00 in income during the year in order to claim them as your dependents.
4. Support Test; you must have provided more than half of their support during the year to claim them as your dependents.
If you meet all of the requirements stated above you may claim the exemption for your parents. If you would like to look further into this topic each of the Tests above is a link directly to the IRS website, Publication 5
