Taxes

graciousmeg82

Okay...so I am calculating our expensive summer vacation that we had at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital this past summer. 

 

If you spent all day at the NICU would you calculate the expenses such as food?  

 

Thanks!

graciousmeg82

And write them off? 

Denesdia

I did not think of that at the time, but I did calculate mileage to and from the hospital daily, plus parking fees as part of my itemized medical expenses.  Including the meal costs would make sense to me. too.

AustinGurl

My baby was born 12/30, so the bulk of our expenses are in 2012.  I'm not certain that you can claim them, but I've saved every single food receipt just in case!  I'm taking it all to the accountant!

Mrs. Alice

I'm not sure if you can claim meal expenses (it wasn't an option on TurboTax at least), but you can claim lodging if you spent the night.  I did include the mileage because we had over 2,000 miles driven to and from the NICU and my specialist appointments.  We were able to deduct our medical expenses because it was greater than 7.5% of our gross income, but unfortunately it make 0% impact on our actual refund amount.  It was worth a try though.  I hope you have better luck.

SushiNoMore

According the IRS website (www.irs.gov), you can deduct lodging (up to $50 / day per person) and mileage to and from the hospital.  Food is very specifically excluded, though.  I looked into it quite a bit since we had to stay in a hotel near the NICU where I son was.

Sorry.