In home health care for chronically ill patient

[gangell986]

What do you report to the IRS if the care giver spends 2 hours on covered health care, 1 hour on non-covered duties, and 5 hours on standby (watching TV, phone, etc.)?

[AmeliesUncle]

Can you clarify what you are reporting to the IRS?

Are you the employer, and filing payroll forms and a W-2?  Are you the employee (or self-employed) that did that work?  The more information you can provide about the situation and what you are trying to report, the more likely someone can give you a good answer.

Generally, hours don't matter, just income/pay.  That means whatever reporting you are trying to do is based on the total dollar amounts, not based on hours.  But depending on the exact details of your situation, that could possibly vary.

[gangell986]

My wife is the patient.  We have contracted with a company to provide two care givers for 8 hours a day.  I am trying to find if and how much we can deduct on our Schedule A.

[AmeliesUncle]

Most likely it is all deductible as medical expenses.

If you are paying the person to be there for medical purposes, it is deductible, regardless if they are actively performing medical services or just being 'there' in case medical needs arise.

For the one hour of doing other things, I suspect the primary purpose is for them to be there in case of a medical need.  If that is the case, it is deductible as a medical expense.  If you are specifically paying them to perform that other service, then it may not be a medical deduction.