Do I get medical deduction for grandchid's Covid 19 test?

Adult grandchild will move into our house in a couple days. She is flying across the country to get here. She is not a dependent of anyone. She is broke. My wife and I are highly vulnerable to Covid19. I think I get the deduction. (Forget the 10%, I'm way over that). I think I meet these rules:

(a) Allowance of deduction
There shall be allowed as a deduction the expenses paid during the taxable year, not compensated for by insurance or otherwise, for medical care of the taxpayer, his spouse, or a dependent (as defined in section 152, determined without regard to subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), and (d)(1)(B) thereof), to the extent that such expenses exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income.

(d) DefinitionsFor purposes of this section—
(1) The term “medical care” means amounts paid—
(A) for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or for the purpose of affecting any structure or function of the body,

Will she be a medical dependent in 2020?

A person generally qualifies as your dependent for purposes of the medical expense deduction if both of the following requirements are met.
1. The person was a qualifying child (defined later) or a qualifying relative (defined later).
2. The person was a U.S. citizen or national or a resident of the United States, Canada, or Mexico. If your qualifying child was adopted, see Exception for adopted child, later.
You can include medical expenses you paid for an individual that would have been your dependent except that:
1. He or she received gross income of $4,200 or more in 2019;

I'd be arguing it's my medical expense. It really is. To prevent my wife and me from getting the virus.

This the Coronavirus - maybe “prevention” is broad enough to include!

Sounds reasonable to me. If you were my client, I would be comfortable claiming the deduction. Stay safe and best wishes to you, your wife, and your granddaughter.

Will your adult grandchild have income in 2020 exceeding $4,200 ? If so I think you are out of luck for teh $500 other dependent credit .

Will your adult grandchild have income in 2020 exceeding $4,200 ?. I surely hope so, for nontax reasons.

Sounds reasonable to me. If you were my client, I would be comfortable claiming the deduction. Stay safe and best wishes to you, your wife, and your granddaughter.

Same.

The first hurdle which must be cleared to qualify a particular expense for deduction as a “medical care” expense is to show the present existence or imminent probability of a disease, defect, or illness—mental or physical....

Secondly, the payment for which a deduction is claimed must be for goods or services directly or proximately related to the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of the disease or illness...

Joel H. Jacobs v. Commissioner (62 TC 813)

The expense would not be incurred "but for" COVID-19 and your granddaughter moving in with you. The test is to ascertain whether or not she has COVID-19, so that you can place further adequate measures in place to prevent transmission to you and your wife if she is indeed infected. Some people are completely asymptomatic when infected. The test is the only way to find out. There is no personal element to the expense.

On a non-tax note, you've probably thought of this, but if she gets the virus during her travels, I doubt it would show up on a test administered somewhere between the airport and your doorstep. It will take time for the virus to incubate. Might be a good idea to have her self-quarantine with family members in the area that are not at-risk for a week or so before a test is administered...

I'd be arguing it's my medical expense. It really is. To prevent my wife and me from getting the virus.

Are you saying you/wife decide to get a test or is grandchild getting the test?

Is a doctor prescribing the test? Is this a county test that you must fillout a symptoms survey? Is this a Covid-19 test or an antibody test?

Might be a good idea to have her self-quarantine with family members in the area that are not at-risk for a week or so before a test is administered.... Our plan is a version of that. She'll have a bedroom. mask, and a rule to stay away from us for a week or two. Tough but doable.

There is no personal element to the expense.. I know what you mean, but technically it is personal but deductible. See sec 262(a).

Are you saying you/wife decide to get a test or is grandchild getting the test?
. The latter, but at my expense. See title of thread.

Is a doctor prescribing the test? Is this a county test that you must fillout a symptoms survey? Is this a Covid-19 test or an antibody test?. No prescription. No idea about county or survey. Local "urgent care" has sign out offering the test to anyone. No ins. coverage w/o a prescription. It's a Covid 19 test (see title of thread). Antibody test on grandchild useful to her, not us.

I think it is, like many tax issues, fact dependent. I can see IRS saying she is the one who might be sick so it's only secondarily for our benefit. So it's a cash gift by us and a med. expense to her. I think we'd win that one. She's 50+ years younger than us.

No prescription.

We know that unless there is an Rx by a doctor, drugs are not tax deductible. Can a lab test be deductible without a doctors orders or at least some medical authority requesting the test?

This says yes.

Deductions for expenditures for medical care allowable under section 213 will be confined strictly to expenses incurred primarily for the prevention or alleviation of a physical or mental defect or illness. Thus, payments for the following are payments for medical care: hospital services, nursing services (including nurses' board where paid by the taxpayer), medical, laboratory, surgical, dental and other diagnostic and healing services, X-rays, medicine and drugs (as defined in subparagraph (2) of this paragraph, subject to the 1-percent limitation in paragraph (b) of this section), artificial teeth or limbs, and ambulance hire.

This says yes.

Doctor Rx implied. Thesaurus : medical care - professional treatment for illness or injury

See also Havey .The Havey ,12 T.C. 409 (1949),court( set out a balancing test under which future courts were to weigh the answers to the following five questions: (1) What was the taxpayer's motive or purpose for incurring the expense? (2) Was the expense incurred at the direction or suggestion of a physician? (3) Did the treatment bear directly on the claimed condition? (4) Did the treatment bear such a direct and proximate therapeutic relation to the body condition as to justify a reasonable belief that its result would be efficacious? (5) Was the treatment so proximate in time to the onset or recurrence of the condition as to make one the true occasion of the other?

That's a lot. Let's address the alleged requirement for a doctor's order to get a Covid 19 test which does not require a doctor's order but is allegedly required for section 213's deduction. I read Havey and still need to be convinced. Can you help?

Can you help?

Yes, I have changed my mind, finally found something definitive.

Rev Ruling 2007-72 " In determining whether an expense is for either medical or personal reasons, the recommendation of a physician is important. Havey v. Commissioner, 12 T.C. 409, 412 (1949). However, this determination is unnecessary in the case of expenses for items that are wholly medical in nature and serve no other function in everyday life. Stringham v. Commissioner, 12 T.C. 580, 584 (court reviewed), aff ’d 183 F.2d 579 (6th Cir. 1950)."

However, this determination is unnecessary in the case of expenses for items that are wholly medical in nature and serve no other function in everyday life.. Right, but with the important exception provided in sec 213(b).