AboutHelen P. O`Planick, EA Expertise I am a tax professional, with experience in individual taxation. I would prefer not to answer questions about non-resident aliens or corporate taxation. Please do not ask me state related questions, unless the state is Pennsylvania. There are 42 taxing states and 42 TOTALLY different sets of state tax law.
Experience I have been preparing tax returns almost all my life. I have been in professional practice for 25 years and I am enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.
Organizations National Association of Enrolled Agents
Publications I am a prior Money Magazine Tax Test taker and have been quoted extensively in all media including monthly periodicals and books by tax authorities.
Question I have a son that has Asperger's which is a condition that falls on the Autism Spectrum (high end of the autism spectrum). As a result we have to take him to therapists and we also have to hire an advocate to represent him at the school to make sure that he gets all of the interventions and accomodations that he needs and is entitled to. My question, which I have had a hard time finding answers to, is wouldn't these expenses be deductable since he is our dependent? These are not expenses we would have unless we absolutley had to have them and it is hard to believe that some if not all of them are not deductable. Can you give me a bit of advise on this?
Answer Your costs with your son are deductible, but you may not be able to deduct them. These are considered medical expenses and you must itemize in order to use them. If you can itemize, you lose the first 7.5% of your adjusted gross income before you get any benefit.
So, let's say you can itemize. And your AGI is $100,000 (makes the math easy). If your son's expenses, plus any other out of pocket qualified medical expense is over $7,500, that is your deduction. So if your medical expenses, etc is $8,000, you would get to deduct on Sch A, $500. If your expenses are $7,499, you would have no deduction.
