Thanks, KeshaH!
Sorry for the incommunicado—I've been busy with other things lately and had to put this on the back burner for a while.
Up front, here's the question I feel the need for resolution of: Does such as a physician's observation (documented in her medical records) that Mom has some kind of "dementia" qualify her assisted living expenses for tax deductibility? (But please read on for explanation of why my understanding is still muddled.)
It still sounds like Mom's tenure in assisted living doesn't quite meet the criteria for tax deductibility. It sounds like tax deductibility is conferred more on "nursing home" situations, wherein the "patient" is under a doctor's prescribed, documented care or "long-term care plan." (ALF's have things they call "care plans," but these seem to largely be of a corporate/legal "CYA" variety.)
For example, Mom can dress herself. She can still drive the car she still owns (although quite precarious!) The things she needs help with are such as meds administration (part of the reason for her deterioration is taking meds all-at-once, regardless of instructions [like with the need to take Levothyroxine on an empty stomach), cleaning (she doesn't have the energy to clean an apartment, clothes, kitchen, bathe herself, etc.) and managing her financial affairs. Without help/prompts from others on these, she gets sick with UTI's, chemical imbalance and that sort of thing and becomes bedridden. She seems to have a worsening problem with at least a mild cognitive impairment and serious short-term memory loss, along with some level of depression (the symptoms of which can mimic "dementia" in the elderly). She is extremely forgetful and easily becomes lost/confused.
New Mexico has a terrible problem with physician diaspora—it can take several months to get a hasty, 15-minute appointment with a primary care physician. However, various physicians I've had to take her to over the past several years have all affirmed that "she should not still be living on her own." There are notes about "cognitive impairment" or even "dementia" in medical records from various physicians, but none have really gone so far as to "prescribe" a regimen requiring placement in a nursing home. (The one who declared some unspecified "dementia" possibly said this simply because she understood that this was necessary in order to have her placed in assisted living—i/o/w, it was simply a "rubric"-driven "diagnosis.")
Mom is presently in an assisted living facility, primarily because I don't have the wherewithal to physically manage her 24/7 to stave off medical emergency, rather than some doctor's prescription. It's basically what can potentially be viewed by the tax authority as having been simply my choice, rather than medical necessity.
It could take months to get a satisfactory answer from a physician. Not having a clear answer yet, and with the April 15 deadline looming, what I will probably do is simply go ahead and file Mom's 2024 return without claiming ALF expenses and continue further research into this. Best case scenario is that I may find that her 2024 ALF expenses actually were tax-deductible, whereupon I would be able to file an amended return.
Opinion(s)?
Danny
