If you’re facing physical challenges as a result of aging, illness or injury, you may need to make some major changes to your home. Without these home improvements, you might even have to consider finding another place to live. Home improvement projects can be expensive, and it can be particularly difficult to afford them when you are facing a health issue.

Luckily, the IRS allows deductions for medically necessary home improvements. Read on to learn about IRS tax medical deductions for home projects, and how they can offset your home improvement costs.

Qualifying Health Safety Measures

When most people think about medically necessary home modifications, they picture wheelchair ramps and widened doorways. While these will certainly bring an IRS deduction, many other health safety measures also qualify. Some other applicable improvements include:

• Air filtration systems (to ease respiratory issues)
• Bathroom modifications (to allow the physically challenged to safely use showers, sinks, toilets and tubs)
• Chair lifts
• Drywall replacements (to remove dangerous mold)
• Elevators
• Grading outside grounds (for wheelchair access)
• Handrails
• Lowering kitchen cabinets  and light switches (for wheelchair access)
• Swimming pools or Jacuzzis (only when necessary to relieve medical conditions!)
• Upgrading or adding warning systems including fire, health alert calling and smoke detection.

Only improvements that accommodate or treat health conditions are eligible for an IRS deduction. For example, if your doctor recommends an air filtration system to relieve severe allergies, and you install central air-conditioning with a filtration system, you can only deduct the air filtration cost of this project. As a general rule, if you can honestly say you wouldn’t have made this home improvement if it weren’t for a medical condition, you’ve got a good chance of qualifying.

Documentation from Your Doctor

To protect yourself in case of IRS audit, you should get a doctor’s recommendation for any home safety measures you plan to deduct on your tax return. Be sure that your doctor’s recommendations are on official letterhead and contain the following important information:

• Specific home improvement(s) that would help
• The exact medical condition you have
• Why these home modifications are necessary.

Stating that swimming would help you lose weight, for example, won’t allow you to deduct a new pool. Your doctor would have to state that hydration therapy is essential to treat your condition.

How Much Can Be Deducted?

You’ll want to consider how these home safety measures will affect your home’s value. You can only deduct the medically necessary expenses that exceed the increase to your home’s new value. For example, if a project costs you $4,500, and it increases your home’s value by $4,000, you’re only allowed to deduct the $500 difference. Luckily, many modifications you may be considering, such as railings and widened doorways will not increase your home’s value.

Additionally, you can only write off expenses that are more than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. Combining multiple medically necessary modification projects in a single year may help you meet this requirement.