Tax Deduction for Special Needs Child

Hi K.,

I'm not a tax advisor but we do have a special needs child that we pay a lot of out of pocket expenses for.

Do you itemize? If so you can deduct all sorts of things for your special needs child under medical expenses including milage to appointments and therapy sessions. It's not a 1:1 deduction though so you have to have a lot of expenses for it to really pay off.

We use Quicken during the year to track all of our spending so that when tax time comes we can run a report on expenses and have a nice number for our son's medical expenses. Based on the provider we then calculate the annual milage as well.

Check the IRS forms to find out what qualifies as a medical expense and you should be fine. If you didn't keep track of your spending using software this year you can also ask for an EOB (explination of benefits) report from your insurance provider which should indicate how much you paid. If you didn't submit the therapy under an insurance plan then the provider should be able to provide you with a report as to what you paid in 2008.

Good Luck!

F.

I do not personally know the answer but I can tell you that if you call the IRS, they are very helpful with these type of questions and pleasant :)

Good luck

If he qualifies as disabled, that will help you out. also medical expenses are put onto a schedule A. Put your whole amount that you spent out of pocket and then it will have you do a computation of 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income to see how much you can deduct, the only thing is if you don't have other items to put on the schedule A i.e, property taxes, mortgage interest, charity contributions(donations)then you may not have enought to deduct. If the amount is more than your standard deduction,you will use the amount off the schedule a, otherwise you just get your standard deduction.

-- I know people in your situation ( who pay out of pocket expenses such as ABA --) and will find out -- great question, K.-

Blessings,
J.
aka - Old Mom

that would come under itemized deductions i think for medical expenses
good luck
paula

My daughter has a special needs boy but he's not eligible to be a special needs child for IRS purposes. The child has to meet several criteria. You can find those on the IRS web site or you can call an IRS office and ask. If he qualifies they can also tell you how to enter the deductions.

As another mother said, if they fall into the medical costs deduction your expenses have to be high to make a difference in you taxes. But it may give you another deduction up front in it's own category. For example I think a blind person gets a higher amount to be deducted than a person who is sighted. These spaces are at the beginning of form.