Can I deduct travel/medical insurance for visiting family on my taxes?
So my parents came to visit me from overseas for about 2 months last summer, and I ended up paying for their travel/medical insurance policy since they're on a fixed income and I wanted to make sure they were properly covered while here in the States. The total cost was around $680 for both of them for the full 60-day coverage period. Now that I'm getting my tax documents together for the 2025 filing season, I'm wondering if this expense would qualify as tax deductible? I'm not sure if this falls under medical expenses or if there's some other category where I might be able to claim it. My parents are not my dependents (they live in their home country and support themselves), but I do help them out financially when I can. Has anyone had experience with this type of situation? I use TurboTax and haven't seen any obvious place to enter this kind of expense. Any guidance would be super appreciated!
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Keisha Robinson
Travel insurance for parents visiting you unfortunately isn't tax deductible in most cases. For medical expenses to be deductible, they need to be for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents. Since your parents aren't your dependents (they don't live with you and you don't provide more than half their support for the year), you can't claim their medical expenses - including medical insurance. If the travel insurance had a medical component and a non-medical component (like trip cancellation), it definitely wouldn't qualify because travel insurance itself isn't a medical expense. Even the medical portion wouldn't qualify unless your parents could be claimed as your dependents. The only way this might work is if you could claim your parents as dependents, which would require meeting several tests, including providing more than half their support for the entire year and their income being below certain thresholds.
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Paolo Conti
•What if I did provide more than half their support for the year? My mom lives with me 6 months out of the year and I pay for most of her expenses. Could I deduct her travel insurance then?
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Keisha Robinson
•If you provide more than half your mother's total support for the calendar year, she might qualify as your dependent. You'd need to meet several requirements: her gross income must be less than the exemption amount ($4,300 for 2024), you must provide more than half her support, and she must be a US citizen, resident, or national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. If she qualifies as your dependent, then yes, you could potentially deduct the medical portion of her travel insurance (not the trip cancellation or other non-medical portions) as part of your medical expenses. Remember that medical expenses are only deductible if you itemize deductions, and even then, only the amount that exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.
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Amina Sow
I ran into something similar when I was trying to figure out if I could deduct travel insurance for my in-laws. After spending HOURS researching, I found this awesome tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that analyzes tax documents and questions. I uploaded my insurance policy details and asked about deductibility, and it gave me a clear answer within minutes instead of the endless googling I was doing. It showed me the specific IRS regulations that applied to my situation with travel insurance for non-dependents and explained exactly why it wasn't deductible in my case. Saved me from potentially making a mistake on my return! The nice thing was getting a definitive answer backed by actual tax code rather than random internet opinions.
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GalaxyGazer
•Does it actually work with uploaded documents? Most "AI" tools I've tried are just glorified chatbots that don't really understand tax documents or give accurate advice. Did it actually understand your specific insurance policy?
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Oliver Wagner
•I've been looking for something like this! Can it handle more complicated tax situations? I have rental properties, self-employment income, and investments across multiple states. Would it work for questions about all those areas too?
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Amina Sow
•It definitely does work with actual documents. I uploaded my full travel insurance policy with all the fine print, and it could tell which parts were for medical coverage versus trip cancellation, and explained how that affects deductibility. It wasn't just generic advice - it pointed to specific sections of my policy. For complicated tax situations, it's been really helpful with my small business questions too. I've asked about home office deductions, vehicle expenses, and even some tricky situations with contractors versus employees. It gives you the ability to chat back and forth about the specifics of your situation rather than just one-way answers.
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Oliver Wagner
Just wanted to follow up and say I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here! I had a stack of tax documents I wasn't sure how to handle, including some travel expenses for family members, and it actually worked really well. I was skeptical at first (I've tried other tax "helpers" before), but it analyzed my specific documents accurately and gave me detailed explanations about what was deductible. For my situation with family travel, it clarified that while the travel insurance itself wasn't deductible, some of my other expenses actually were because of my specific circumstances. It saved me from missing legitimate deductions while avoiding claiming ones that would raise red flags. Definitely worth checking out if you're sorting through tax questions like these!
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Natasha Kuznetsova
I know this is a bit off-topic from travel insurance, but related to tax questions - I spent THREE DAYS trying to call the IRS about a similar tax deduction question. Could never get through. Then I found a service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent was able to tell me the official stance on travel insurance deductions for family members and confirmed what others have said here - generally not deductible unless they're dependents. But they also pointed out some exceptions I wouldn't have known about. Saved me hours of hold time and research!
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Javier Mendoza
•How exactly does this work? The IRS phone lines are notoriously impossible to get through. Does this jump the queue somehow? I'm confused about how a third-party service could get you through when the IRS phone system itself is so backed up.
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Emma Thompson
•This sounds like BS honestly. Nothing can get you through to the IRS faster. They have millions of backlogged calls and are understaffed. I've tried everything and still had to wait 2+ hours. This is just some scam trying to charge people for something that doesn't work.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
•It uses an automated system that continually redials the IRS for you using their callback feature. When a spot opens up, it grabs it immediately and connects you. It's completely legit - the video shows exactly how it works step by step. I was skeptical too, but it's not jumping any queues or doing anything unethical. It's just using technology to handle the frustrating redial process that most of us don't have time for. I was connected to a real IRS agent who answered all my questions about my specific tax situation.
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Emma Thompson
I have to eat my words from earlier. After getting frustrated with another day of failing to reach the IRS about some questions similar to this travel insurance issue, I decided to try Claimyr out of desperation. I genuinely didn't think it would work but figured it was worth a shot. To my complete surprise, I was connected to an IRS representative in about 35 minutes. The agent confirmed that travel insurance for non-dependent parents isn't deductible, but she also walked me through some other deductions I COULD take related to my parents' visit that I had no idea about. Saved me way more than the service cost just in the additional deductions she helped identify. Sometimes being proven wrong is actually a good thing!
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Malik Davis
Something no one has mentioned yet - if your parents got sick or needed medical care while visiting, and you paid those medical bills directly (not the insurance, but actual doctor/hospital bills), those MIGHT be deductible even if they're not your dependents. The IRS makes a special exception for direct medical payments. Publication 502 says you can include medical expenses you pay for someone who would've been your dependent except they don't meet the gross income or joint return tests. Worth looking into if you paid any actual medical costs beyond just the insurance.
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Isabella Santos
•Wait, really? I paid for my mom's emergency room visit when she was visiting last year! It was like $2,200 out of pocket even though she had her own insurance from back home. Are you saying I could deduct that??
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Malik Davis
•Yes! This is a special rule many people don't know about. If you paid the medical provider directly (not reimbursing your mom, but paying the hospital), then you may be able to include that $2,200 as part of your medical expenses on Schedule A. Keep in mind you'll need to itemize deductions, and only medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income are deductible. So if your AGI is $80,000, you'd need more than $6,000 in total medical expenses before any of them become deductible. But this ER visit could certainly help you reach that threshold along with your other medical expenses.
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StarStrider
Does anybody know if travel insurance would be tax deductible if it was for a business trip? I sometimes buy travel insurance when I go to conferences for work and I'm wondering if that would be different from buying it for family members.
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Keisha Robinson
•Yes, travel insurance for business trips is generally deductible as a business expense! Since it's directly related to your business travel, you can deduct it along with your other business travel expenses like airfare, hotel, etc. If you're self-employed, you would deduct it on Schedule C. If you're an employee who isn't reimbursed for these expenses, unfortunately the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated miscellaneous itemized deductions for unreimbursed employee business expenses. Your best bet would be to ask your employer to reimburse you for the travel insurance.
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Jade O'Malley
This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation where I paid for my elderly aunt's travel insurance when she visited from Canada last year. Based on what everyone's shared here, it sounds like I'm out of luck for deducting the travel insurance itself since she's not my dependent. But I'm really interested in what @Malik Davis mentioned about direct medical payments. My aunt had to see a specialist while she was here for a pre-existing condition, and I paid the $800 bill directly to the doctor's office since her Canadian insurance didn't cover it in the US. If I understand correctly, this might actually be deductible even though the travel insurance isn't? I'm also curious about the tools people have mentioned - I've been struggling to find clear answers on some of my other tax questions too. The IRS website is so confusing sometimes, and like others have said, getting through on the phone is nearly impossible. Thanks for all the insights everyone!
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Logan Chiang
•@Jade O'Malley Yes, that $800 you paid directly to the specialist for your aunt could potentially be deductible! Since you paid the medical provider directly (not reimbursing your aunt), it falls under that special IRS rule @Malik Davis mentioned. The key is that it was a direct payment to a healthcare provider for medical services. Just remember you ll'need to itemize deductions and your total medical expenses need to exceed 7.5% of your AGI before they become deductible. But every bit helps toward reaching that threshold! Make sure you keep all the documentation showing you paid the doctor directly. As for the tools mentioned, I ve'found it really helpful to have multiple ways to get tax answers since the IRS resources can be so overwhelming. Having both the AI document analysis and the callback service as options has made tax season much less stressful for me this year.
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