8550 / Can lodging expenses that are incurred in relation to the medical treatment of a taxpayer be deducted as medical expenses?

Editor’s Note: For tax years beginning after 2020 the medical expense deduction is allowed only to the extent that such expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income for the tax year. The 7.5 percent floor was made permanent by the 2021 CAA.

Deductible medical expenses include amounts paid for lodging, up to $50 per individual per night, when being away from home is primarily for and essential to medical care if such care is provided by a physician in a licensed hospital (or similar medical care facility) and there is no element of personal pleasure, recreation or vacation in the travel away from home. No deduction is allowed if the lodgings are “lavish or extravagant.”¹ A mother was permitted to deduct lodging expenses incurred when her child was receiving medical care away from home and her presence was essential to such care.² A parent’s costs of attending a medical conference (i.e., registration fee, transportation costs) to obtain information about a chronic disease affecting the parent’s child were deductible so long as the costs were primarily for and essential to the medical care of the dependent. However, the costs of meals and lodging incurred by the parent while attending the conference were not deductible.³