Medical deduction or not

[FEDUKE404]

Health services fee IS a requirement

OP said the fee was required.

I am not aware of any requirement that a Sch A Medical expense must be or cannot be a required fee if it is part of the college expenses of a dependent.

The fee IS required for registration, and the actual size of the fee is strangely enough based upon the semester credit hours taken.

There is a separate, unrelated issue also: The student must also pay for his/her medical insurance through a school policy UNLESS proof of comparable medical insurance coverage (such as through a parent with a "family plan") is provided. In such a case, the medical insurance payment/coverage is then waived by the school upon verification of the existence of appropriate coverage.

To reiterate, the "health services fee" is paid by all students. In theory it covers the costs of routine visits to student health for aches, pains, and whatever.

FE

[erchess]

Required or Not

OP said the fee was required.

I am not aware of any requirement that a Sch A Medical expense must be or cannot be a required fee if it is part of the college expenses of a dependent.

[S T]

Search

I did a quick google search under health service fees college tuition and found that most colleges require it - might be a waiver in certain cirucumstances.

Maybe check your t/p's college website.

Sandy

[Uncle Sam]

Medical Deduction or Not

Is that fee a mandatory part of the registration, or can the parents elect NOT to have it and be provided any medical benefits

[erchess]

My Approach

The college says the expense is for medical.

There exists on Sch A a category called Medical.

It would benefit the taxpayer to put the expense on Sch A in the Medical category.

I don't come to the problem with knowledge that the expense cannot be put in that category and there is nothing about this category of expense in my handy dandy reference book's list of nondeductible medical expenses.

Therefore I would put it in that category and move on.

[FEDUKE404]

Taxpayer has dependent who is a college student.

The student/parent pays the required fees (which would probably be eligible for tax credits et al except they disappear due to overall income issues) in addition to tuition, room/board, etc.

When looking through said fees, one fee is specifically called "health services fee" and shows a dollar amount. The college confirms this is what everyone pays in order to be able to use the student health services, although additional costs (medications/referrals) must then be paid for a student who might require such items after visiting student health.

So - is there any way the "health services fee" can be treated as a Schedule A allowable medical deduction??

(I think probably not, but just so far cannot find anything definitive either way.)

FE