Can child claim his medical expense even he is depend in my tax return?

[learntofile]

My child has lots of medical expenses. He  files separate tax return. Can my child claim those medical expenses? although I claim my child as dependent.

[Vanessa A]

No, if you are claiming your child as a dependent, you would claim the medical expenses on your return.  Your son cannot claim his medical expenses when he is claimed as a dependent. 

In order to do so you would need to Itemize your return. Medical expenses are only deductible for the amount in excess of 7.5% of your AGI.  So, if your AGI is $100,000, only your medical expenses over $7,500 will count towards your Itemized Deductions. Also, the total of all of your Itemized expenses would need to be greater than your standard deduction in order to get any benefit from your itemized deductions.  Itemized deductions include Mortgage Interest, State and Local Taxes up to $10,000, and charitable deductions.

Your standard deduction if you are filing as Head of Household is $19,400 and $25,900 if you are married filing jointly. 

[hbl3973]

learntofile,

The answer is maybe.

Medical expenses are itemized deductions claimed on Schedule A.  The instructions for Schedule A state:

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Whose medical and dental expenses can you include? You can include medical and dental bills you paid in
2022 for anyone who was one of the following either when the services were provided or when you paid for them.
• Yourself and your spouse.
• All dependents you claim on your return.
• Your child whom you don't claim as a dependent because of the rules for children of divorced or separated parents. See Child of divorced or separated parents in Pub. 502 for more information.
• Any person you could have claimed as a dependent on your return except that person received $4,400 or more of gross income or filed a joint return.
• Any person you could have claimed as a dependent except that you, or your spouse if filing jointly, can be
claimed as a dependent on someone else's 2022 return.

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So as long as your child paid for the out-of-pocket medical expenses, they are itemized deductions on their return.  On the other hand, if you paid the out-of-pocket expenses, they are yours to include in the list of itemized deductions.

Now as to whether it is worthwhile trying to claim them, that, too depends.  If your child's only income is from W-2 wages totaling less than $12,950, it is pointless to itemize as the standard deduction for the dependent will exceed his income and the taxable income is already zero.  In any event, the out-of-pocket medical expenses must be reduced by subtracting 7.5% of the child's adjusted gross income and that reduced figure plus typically state tax taken from paychecks and charitable contributions would need to add up to more that $12,950 to make a difference.

[Hal_Al]

He can claim them if HE pays them, and that's unlikely if he is your dependent.

A dependent's  standard deduction, is the greater of $1150 or his earned income plus $400. It's rare, but sometimes a dependent is better off claiming itemized deductions

[learntofile]

Thanks.  I paid expense.  I was thinking if he claims deduction he could get some money back.  If I claim the medical expense I cannot get anything.

So it's no? because he did pay for it?

[Hal_Al]

Yes, it's a no, because he did NOT pay for it. 

[learntofile]

Thank you for the answer.

[learntofile]

Thank you for the help.

[Vanessa A]

Correct.  You paid the expense, so he cannot claim something he did not pay for.  In order for him to claim the expense, he would have to pay.  Also, in order for you to claim him, he would have to not provide more than half of his support.  So, if he had a large amount of medical bills that he paid himself, depending on what other expenses he would pay himself, you would not be able to claim him as a dependent if the total was more than half of his own support that he paid himself. 

But, this brings up a few questions.  You said you are claiming him. How old is he?  How much did he make?  Is he still a student?

In order to claim him as a dependent the following must apply:

• Your child (including adopted and foster children), your sibling, or a descendent of any of them.
• Age 18 or younger at the end of the tax year OR under 24 (and younger than you and your spouse) if they are a full-time student or any age if permanently and totally disabled
• Lived with you for more than 6 months during the tax year
• They did not provide more than half of their own support
• They did not file a joint return, unless it was to claim a refund

If he is not a full time student and is older than 18, then he would have to earn less than $4,400 to be claimed as a dependent. 

If he earned less than $12,950, he should be getting all of his taxes paid in back.   So, for him to qualify as a dependent and have income that he wasn't getting all of his refund back to begin with and that the itemized deduction would increase his refund and he still did not provide over half of his support would be a very unusual set of circumstances.