Assisted Living deductions

[AZ-Tax]

I know LTC premium can be deducted as medical on Sch A what about assisted living exps?

Any help would be appreciated

[dyne]

ALL such expenses are deductible as MEDICAL EXPENSES if the person is in such
a facility PRIMARILY for medical reasons. IRS announced this some time back.

[erchess]

Reality Check

What possible non medical reason could one have for going to an assisted living facility? If you simply want your chores done for you are there not significantly cheaper ways to go about obtaining that service?

[Chief]

Assissted Living Facilities

A good place to start is with the statement from the facility. It will designate the per centage of the charges that can be charged tomedical deductions.

[Burke]

Chief is right. Most ALF's provide their residents with a letter detailing the % of their monthly fee or a daily rate that can be used as medical expense. Call the home. This is usually for the independent- living residents. Assisted-living care can be deducted under IRS rules for ADL's and nursing home care is fully deductible. Many of these places have all three levels, and residents can move from one to another.

[S T]

Portion Deductible

Your t/p might not qualify for the full deduction, but if the assisted living is charging extra over the base fee for medications, bathing, etc, that portion should be deductible. And the Assisted Living Facility should provide a detailed monthly statement.

For Alzheimer's t/p I use the full amount, as they generally can not meet 4 or 5 of the daily living activities and do require substantial supervision to be protected.

From the IRS website

Chronically ill individual. An individual is chronically ill if, within the previous 12 months, a licensed health care practitioner has certified that the individual meets either of the following descriptions.
He or she is unable to perform at least two activities of daily living without substantial assistance from another individual for at least 90 days, due to a loss of functional capacity. Activities of daily living are eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, and continence.
He or she requires substantial supervision to be protected from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment

Sandy

[JohnH]

A good source for the certification by the health care professional would be the hospital discharge instructions (assuming the person went form the hospital to the facility, which is probably the case 90% of the time). Most of these forms have specific checkoffs for the Doctor to express an opinion about ADL's to aid the facility in devising a Care Plan. In NC, the form is an FL-2, but I've never been able to determine if the FL-2 is a state form or a Medicare form.

[S T]

Fl-2

John, the FL-2 form seems to be an NC form that is required, I had a little experience with it this last year with my Mother-in-Law and California prior to that was different. Doesn't appear that it is a Medic-Aid/Medicare form. Seems like it is used primarily by DHSS NC

Important: An FL-2 form will be required for review at most of the facilities listed.
This form can be obtained from your loved one’s primary physician. The FL-2 form is a medical form that lists the physician’s recommended level of care, as well as medical diagnoses and conditions. Long term care facilities use the FL-2 form as an evaluation/assessment tool in deciding whether or not their facility will be able to provide the most appropriate level of care

The above is only referenced at NC facility sites, however, other State sites have forms that are similar.

Sandy