from IRS PUB 502 Medical and Dental Expenses
You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for
special equipment installed in a home, or for improvements,
if their main purpose is medical care for you, your
spouse, or your dependent. The cost of permanent improvements
that increase the value of your property may
be partly included as a medical expense. The cost of the
improvement is reduced by the increase in the value of
your property. The difference is a medical expense. If the
value of your property isn't increased by the improvement,
the entire cost is included as a medical expense.
Certain improvements made to accommodate a home
to your disabled condition, or that of your spouse or your
dependents who live with you, don't usually increase the
value of the home and the cost can be included in full as
medical expenses. These improvements include, but
aren't limited to, the following items.
• Constructing entrance or exit ramps for your home.
• Widening doorways at entrances or exits to your
home.
• Widening or otherwise modifying hallways and interior
doorways.
• Installing railings, support bars, or other modifications
to bathrooms.
• Lowering or modifying kitchen cabinets and equipment.
• Moving or modifying electrical outlets and fixtures.
• Installing porch lifts and other forms of lifts (but elevators
generally add value to the house).
• Modifying fire alarms, smoke detectors, and other
warning systems.
• Modifying stairways.
• Adding handrails or grab bars anywhere (whether or
not in bathrooms).
• Modifying hardware on doors.
• Modifying areas in front of entrance and exit doorways.
• Grading the ground to provide access to the residence.
Only reasonable costs to accommodate a home to your
disabled condition are considered medical care. Additional
costs for personal motives, such as for architectural
or aesthetic reasons, aren't medical expenses.
