Tax Year Prior to 2020: Long term care expenses

[SFBlack]

I paid several health care aides in 2019 for assisting my wife who is bedridden with nerve damage.  These expenses are allowable under IRS rules.  My question is:  can I include the social security and medicare tax payments I made on their behalf along with their wages, as reported on their W-2 forms, as part of my long term care expenses?  If so, am I limited to their "employee share" or can I also include my "employer share"?  Again, the only issue is whether these costs can be included as part of long term care costs for purposes of the medical expense deduction on Schedule A.

[ColeenD3]

You can deduct the amounts you paid, not the amount of the withholding you sent to the IRS. Since they did not receive the money and it was withheld from their pay, they paid it, not you. You merely forwarded it to the IRS.

[SFBlack]

So I can deduct my "employer's share" as well as, by the way, the state unemployment insurance I paid for them?

[ThomasM125]

You can deduct the employer's share of social security and medicare, as well as the federal and state unemployment taxes.

[SFBlack]

Sorry, but if I "withheld'" social security and medicare tax from the health care aides and paid it to the IRS, doesn't that mean that the "employee's share" is part of the wages I paid (i.e., the costs I incurred) and therefore should be deductible by me as part of my long term care expenses?

[VictorW9]

No, only the employer's share of FICA is deductible. The employee's share is exactly what it means. The employees' share should be deducted from their gross wages and sent to IRS on their behalf. It is irrelevant whether you ended up paying the full amount without deducting it from their wages.