Question

Nursing Home

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 19, 2020
1 reply
0 views

I am doing taxes for my mother in law. She gets Social Security and a small pension. however all but $30 per month goes directly to the nursing home (she is on medicade). Does she need to file taxes and if so is there a credit of offset as she essentially has no income apart from that which goes straight to her nursing home?

Medical

DaveF1006

if your mother is over the age of 65, her standard deduction is $13,850. If the total of her pension and 1/2 of her social security gross income exceeds that amount, then she would need to file. if not, then there is no filing requirement.

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

B

Barryea0619Author

Thank you for the response. The total of the Social Security and Pension benefits do exceed that amount, however as she is on Medicaid all but $30 per month is sent from the various funds directly to the nursing home (she is in Alzheimer's care). Am I able to deduct the nursing home costs as it is currently saying she owes money but essentially has no income.

DaveF1006

In response to your question, in that scenario, your taxable income is only determined to be $9000. In this instance, you would not be required to file a tax return.

I ran these figures in my own test account, and determined that with a $9000 pension amount, she would have to have $51,000 in social security benefit to raise the taxable AGI above $13850. i don't think any one person's social security benefit reaches that high. Even with this scenario, her tax owed is $9.

As far as claiming nursing home costs, you can claim these if you claim your mother as a dependent on your return. Please reference the advice that Barryea619 gave in the previous post.

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"