Parental Support
As people live longer more and more we find that we have to care for our parents who are too able and healthy to be placed in a nursing home.

You may find yourself caring for your parent or parents and paying for medical expenses. If so you may be able to take a medical expenses deduction on your taxes.

You may have an old parent who has an income that is too high to qualify as a regular dependant but you could be providing over 50% of their support.

If that is the case the medical expenses you pay on their behalf are deductible on your tax return." Medical expenses are deductible to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.

As an alternative you can pay for the dependent care with pretax dollars.
This method is restricted to defined limits. You'll have to participate in your employer's flexible spending plan.

You have to ask your employer to deduct the money from your paycheck before taxes are applied. When you submit vouchers for the qualified dependent care expenses, you will get your money back.

Choose between the tax credit and the flexible-spending account. One or the other, but not both. Do the numbers and calculate where you stand. Usually if you spend more than $2,400 and you're in the 25% tax bracket or higher, the flexible-spending account will serve you better..

If you and you sibling(s) share the costs of taking care of your parent and together you contribute more than half of your parent's total support, then one of you can claim a dependency deduction. You do have to meet the income test.

Each sibling has to pay for more than 10% of the parent's support. Each one has to sign the IRS Form 2120 which is a Multiple Support Declaration. Submit that together with your form 1040.