Is 57 yr old disabled son a dependent? SSDisability $30,179 (only income source). Dad paid $14,200 for live-in nursing home care. Is this expense deductible for Dad?

[ChristinaS · Accepted solution]

The son is not likely to be anyone's tax dependent. Although his income is not taxable, he cannot provide more than half of his own support. $30,179 is not a small amount of money, and most likely that income provides more than half of his support. That would keep him from being eligible to be a dependent, even with no taxable income.

You cannot claim medical expenses for a person that isn't your dependent due to providing more than half of his/her support. You could claim the expenses if the son was a dependent in a prior year, when the services were rendered.

$14,200 is also not a small amount of money. To determine if this disabled son is a dependent, all of his support needs to be tallied (medical, housing, food, travel, etc).

You can use the Support worksheet in Publication 501:

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_2016_publink1000220886

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