Search
Close this search box.

Long Term Care Costs May Be Deductible For Income Taxes

Print Article

AUGUST 3, 1998 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 5

Few nursing home residents have large incomes. Most, of course, are living on retirement and Social Security, and a few may have at least some investment income. Income tax liability will seem like an irrelevant issue for most long-term care residents. Still, income tax issues can be important and may present an opportunity for financial planning for long-term care recipients and their families.

Thanks to new legislation adopted by Congress two years ago, the costs of long-term care are a deductible expense. In most circumstances, that will include care provided either in a nursing home or at home, though there are some limitations on the benefit of the tax break.

To be deductible, the care must meet one of three conditions:

  1. The patient must be unable to perform at least two of the “activities of daily living” (the ADLs include eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing and continence), OR
  2. The patient must meet regulations to be adopted by the IRS (these regulations are not yet proposed), OR
  3. The patient must be so cognitively impaired as to require supervision to protect him or her from threats to health and safety.

Like all medical expenses, the costs of long-term care are deductible only to the extent that they exceed 7.5% of the taxpayer’s income. For a wealthy patient, however, the value of the deduction should not be overlooked. Many tax preparers and financial advisers are unaware of the availability of the deductions, particularly in the case of home care.

There are other circumstances in which the costs of long-term care can become important for tax reasons, as well. When children provide most of the care for a parent in the home or a nursing home, they may be able to claim the parent as a deduction. In order to qualify, the child must provide more than half the total cost of care, and the parent’s annual income (excluding Social Security) may not exceed $2,650. If the parent’s Social Security exceeds $25,000 per year, the deduction is no longer available.

Even if the child can not claim the parent as a dependent, nursing care costs provided by the child may be deductible. The maximum income rules do not apply, so the only requirement is that the child provide at least half the total cost of the parent’s support.

Tax law also permits deductions for most long-term care insurance payments, whether for the taxpayer or a dependent parent. Of course, the tax deduction is not likely to be useful for most policy holders–it is limited to the amount by which total medical expenses exceed 7.5% of income. For most healthy taxpayers, long-term care insurance will only be deductible in years when there are also family medical catastrophes.

Once a long-term care insurance policyholder begins to receive payments, another set of tax issues comes into play. Under the new rules, most patients receiving insurance benefits will have no income tax effect. In order to receive that benefit, however, the policy itself must qualify under new rules. If it does not, the payments made by the policy may be treated as income.

Most observers have assumed that the income from long-term care insurance is not a very important concern, since there will always be substantial costs incurred by the recipient. While tax experts disagree on the rules in this complicated area, it may in some circumstances be necessary to declare the long-term care insurance payments as income, but not possible to deduct the corresponding long-term care costs from that income. This dilemma only affects recent purchasers of long-term care policies which are not “qualified” by the federal government, but should be considered when analyzing any new policy.

Stay up to date

Subscribe to our Newsletter to get our takes on some of the situations families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities find themselves in. These posts help guide you in the decision making process and point out helpful tips and nuances to take advantage of. Enter your email below to have our entries sent directly to your inbox!

Robert B. Fleming

Attorney

Robert Fleming is a Fellow of both the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He has been certified as a Specialist in Estate and Trust Law by the State Bar of Arizona‘s Board of Legal Specialization, and he is also a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. Robert has a long history of involvement in local, state and national organizations. He is most proud of his instrumental involvement in the Special Needs Alliance, the premier national organization for lawyers dealing with special needs trusts and planning.

Robert has two adult children, two young grandchildren and a wife of over fifty years. He is devoted to all of them. He is also very fond of Rosalind Franklin (his office companion corgi), and his homebound cat Muninn. He just likes people, their pets and their stories.

Elizabeth N.R. Friman

Attorney

Elizabeth Noble Rollings Friman is a principal and licensed fiduciary at Fleming & Curti, PLC. Elizabeth enjoys estate planning and helping families navigate trust and probate administrations. She is passionate about the fiduciary work that she performs as a trustee, personal representative, guardian, and conservator. Elizabeth works with CPAs, financial professionals, case managers, and medical providers to tailor solutions to complex family challenges. Elizabeth is often called upon to serve as a neutral party so that families can avoid protracted legal conflict. Elizabeth relies on the expertise of her team at Fleming & Curti, and as the Firm approaches its third decade, she is proud of the culture of care and consideration that the Firm embodies. Finding workable solutions to sensitive and complex family challenges is something that Elizabeth and the Fleming & Curti team do well.

Amy F. Matheson

Attorney

Amy Farrell Matheson has worked as an attorney at Fleming & Curti since 2006. A member of the Southern Arizona Estate Planning Council, she is primarily responsible for estate planning and probate matters.

Amy graduated from Wellesley College with a double major in political science and English. She is an honors graduate of Suffolk University Law School and has been admitted to practice in Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Fleming & Curti, Amy worked for American Public Television in Boston, and with the international trade group at White & Case, LLP, in Washington, D.C.

Amy’s husband, Tom, is an astronomer at NOIRLab and the Head of Time Domain Services, whose main project is ANTARES. Sadly, this does not involve actual time travel. Amy’s twin daughters are high school students; Finn, her Irish Red and White Setter, remains a puppy at heart.

Famous people's wills

Matthew M. Mansour

Attorney

Matthew is a law clerk who recently earned his law degree from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. His undergraduate degree is in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Matthew has had a passion for advocacy in the Tucson community since his time as a law student representative in the Workers’ Rights Clinic. He also has worked in both the Pima County Attorney’s Office and the Pima County Public Defender’s Office. He enjoys playing basketball, caring for his cat, and listening to audiobooks narrated by the authors.