Because I think you have not followed the procedures, up until now, the only thing that is deductible is actual medical or nursing care. This would include providing medications, bathing, assisting with toileting, and other common nursing services. Nursing services do not need to be provided by a registered nurse, but they must be of the kind and type of services that are performed by a nurse. Companionship, house cleaning, preparing meals, and other non-nursing expenses are not deductible as long-term care medical expenses in your case. You must allocate the expenses as best you can. If audited, you must show the IRS a reasonable basis for your allocation. Such as number of hours each day performing different duties. In other words, if the care provider spends 1/4 of their time providing nursing services in 3/4 of their time providing companionship and keeping your mother out of danger, only 1/4 of the expense is a deductible medical expense.
If you pay for care so that you can work, and so that your spouse can work if you are married, and if you can claim your mother as a dependent (you provide more than half her total living expenses and her taxable income is less than $4200) then you can also use the child and dependent care credit for expenses that are not medical expenses. The dependent care credit can be used for up to $3000 of dependent care expenses. Once you allocate the costs between nursing services and non-nursing services, you can apply the first $3000 of non-nursing services to the dependent care credit and apply the nursing services to the medical expense deduction. The remaining non-nursing services are non-deductible and not eligible for any tax benefits. And the medical expense deduction may not get you as much as you think because it has a high threshold and your total expenses must be more than 7 1/2% of your income before they start to become deductible.
In order to make all of the care expenses eligible as deductible medical expenses, you must meet 2 conditions.
1. A doctor certifies that your mother is chronically ill and either (a) requires assistance with two or more activities of daily living (activities of daily living are eating, bathing, transferring, toileting, incontinence, and dressing) or (b) is cognitively impaired and requires assistance to prevent her from becoming a danger to herself or others.
2. her care is provided according to a written care plan that is prepared by a medical professional or a qualified social worker and is reviewed and updated annually.
If you get a written certification from a doctor and a written care plan that requires your mother to have care while you are working, then the entire care expense is qualified as a deductible medical expense and you do not have to allocate nursing and non-nursing services. You still have the option of applying the first $3000 of costs to the dependent care credit, because it usually pays better than the medical expense deduction, and then the entire remaining care expenses can be used as deductible medical expenses. Be sure not to use the same expenses to qualify for the deduction and the dependent care credit, that is double dipping.
