Hello spicy,
Capital improvements made to your home may be deductible, but only if the main purpose for the improvement is to treat a medical need. So if the primary reason for the installation of this pool would be for your daughter's medical rehabilitation, then you may be able to claim a portion of the cost.
When you make capital improvements to your home to serve a medical need, you may only deduct the amount which exceeds the increase in fair value that the improvement has added to your home. In other words if you installed a pool that cost you $10,000, but by installing that pool it increased the fair market value of your home by $6,000, then you could only deduct the remaining cost of $4,000 as a medical expense.
In order to determine the increase in value to your home, it is best to use the services of a licensed appraiser so that you have adequate documentation for any expense you are claiming.
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Thank you spicy
Hello again spicy,
Ultimately the burden of proof would be upon you to prove that the primary reason for the installation of the pool would be for your daughter's health benefits.
When you make capital improvements to your home for such things as a ramp to accomodate a wheelchair, or adding a stair lift to accomodate someone who cannot climb stairs, then it becomes easier to justify those sorts of expenditures. Obviously as you have pointed out, with something like a swimming pool, it will normally also be used for recreational purposes by other individuals, and so it becomes more difficult to prove that the main intent was for medical reasons.
I am giving you a link to the IRS publication which covers medical expense deductions, and your particular situation would be addressed under "Capital Expenses".
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/ar02.html
Unfortunately there is nothing in the regulations which specifically pinpoints what the IRS would consider proof that any capital expense was made mainly for medical reasons. If you were to claim a deduction for this expense, you would not have to justify the expense unless your return were selected for audit. If that were to happen, then at the very least you would need a written statement from your daughter's doctor, where he recommended a routine exercise regiment of swimming for your daughter's health needs. The actual determination would really be up to the individual examiner who was assigned to your audit. He would likely ask you other routine questions as to how much time the pool was used by your daughter, and how much it was used by others for recreational needs. It would then be up to the examiner to make a recommendation on whether or not the deduction should be allowed.
This is one of those areas of the tax law where there are no rules set in stone that determine if this expense can be deducted. Each case, if audited, would be decided on an individual basis. Because of that, you will need to determine in your own mind whether or not you think you can honestly justify the deduction, as there is always a risk that if you are audited the deduction could be disallowed by the examiner assigned to your case.
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Thank you spicy and let me know if you have more questions. I wish I could give you a more definite answer on this, but unfortunately it is just one of those areas that really has no hard and set rules which apply.
Accountant
25+ years tax consulting. Specializing in returns for US citizens living abroad