Deduction

[franko15]

I paid $6,000 for my daughter's surgery, can I claim a deduction for this?

[Anonymous]

don't know.  you have not provided enough information.    your daughter must be a qualifying person and the expenditures must be a qualifying expense.  

i've linked you to Schedule A instructions so you can review them to see if they qualify for you to deduct them as medical expenses. 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf

[franko15]

My daughter is a full time grad student (age 27), who has no income, and therefore could not pay for her own surgery.

[pk]

@franko15 , your daughter ( does not qualify as a dependent child because of age ), if your home is her main home except for temporary absence(s), such as going away to school and  has income less than $4400 ( I think ),  can be your qualiying relative dependent.  Once she is a dependent, you can claim medical expenses  incurred/paid on her behalf.  She also, if she has to file a return must show that she is a dependent of  you.  Here is something from the IRS that shows the requirements of a qualifying relative  for dependency purposes   :

https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/table_2_dependency_exemption_relative_4012.pdf

Hope this helps

[franko15]

My daughter worked for 6 months in 2019, so she made more than $4400. Her grad school program began in August, just after her surgery.  Since I paid for it (she had no income at this point) , it was if she was my dependent. However, it seems to me that the rules are a bit inflexible, so it looks like I will have to eat the cost?

[Opus 17]

You can deduct medical expenses on your tax return that you pay for yourself, your spouse, your dependent, and any person who could be a dependent and is only disqualified by their income.  (People who are disqualified from being your dependent for reasons other than income are not eligible for the medical expense deduction.)

The conditions for claiming your own child over the age of 23 as a dependent are (a) they earned less than $4400, and (b) you provided more than half their total financial support for the year.  (If it is your own child, it doesn’t matter where they lived.   It doesn’t help if they lived with you and it doesn’t hurt if they didn’t.)

Since the income limit does not factor into the medical expense deduction, the only relevant question is, did you pay more than half her overall living expenses for the year?

Her living expenses for the year include food, housing, tuition, medical expenses, travel and entertainment, and so on.  If you supported her to the extent that you paid half her living expenses for the year, you can deduct medical expenses that you paid for her.

[Opus 17]

And of course, the surgery must be medically necessary to cure or treat a defect or condition of the body, and not merely be cosmetic.  

(Cosmetic surgery is never deductible no matter your relationship to the person you paid for.)