Can I take credit for a live-in nurse?

[aslock]

I have been bed-ridden from an accident and had my son move in to serve as a nanny/nurse and paid him $1600/month since June?  Can I deduct this?

[ColeenD3]

Yes.

You can include in medical expenses wages and other amounts you pay for nursing services. The services need not be performed by a nurse as long as the services are of a kind generally performed by a nurse. This includes services connected with caring for the patient's condition, such as giving medication or changing dressings, as well as bathing and grooming the patient. These services can be provided in your home or another care facility.

Generally, only the amount spent for nursing services is a medical expense. If the attendant also provides personal and household services, amounts paid to the attendant must be divided between the time spent performing household and personal services and the time spent for nursing services. For example, because of your medical condition, you pay a visiting nurse $300 per week for medical and household services. She spends 10% of her time doing household services such as washing dishes and laundry. You can include only $270 per week as medical expenses. The $30 (10% × $300) allocated to household services can't be included.

Pub 502

[aslock]

Thanks but I did not take advantage of thia provision. I'm not sure it would have helped if I took the deduction but I did spend  $1600 per month from June to the end of the year. I got home from the hospital at that time  but was wheelchair bound the rest of the year and only got out of the wheel chair yesterday.

[JohnW152]

It might be to your advantage to look into itemizing your deductions, based on what you’re saying. 

It’s possible you can get a tax benefit.  A lot of it depends on your filing status.

If all of your itemized deductions, including medical expenses, add up to more than your standard deduction for your filing status, you may be able to save money.

Please see the TurboTax Help article What's my standard deduction? to see what your standard deduction is this year. 

That said, for medical expenses, only the amount in excess of 7.5% of your AGI can actually be included as an itemized deduction.