Can my parents claim deductions for medical expenses they paid for me?

The key here is who actually paid the bills and who can claim who as a dependent. Medical expenses can only be deducted by the person who paid them. Since your parents paid for your detox/rehab, they would be the ones who could potentially claim those expenses on their tax return - not you. You can't deduct expenses you didn't actually pay yourself. However, there's a catch - medical expenses are only deductible if they exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI) when itemizing deductions. So your parents would need to have enough total medical expenses (including yours and their own) to exceed that threshold to benefit. Also, since you're 27 and cannot be claimed as their dependent (as you mentioned), they would only be able to deduct your medical expenses if you were their dependent for tax purposes. Generally, to claim someone as a dependent, they must either be a qualifying child (usually under 19, or 24 if a student) or a qualifying relative (with income under $4,500 for 2025).

I went through something similar last year with my brother's medical bills. I found this really helpful tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure out the dependency and medical expense situation. You upload your documents and it analyzes them to tell you exactly what you can claim. It even explained the "qualifying relative" rules to me which was super helpful because it turns out my brother could be claimed as my dependent even though he was 30! The medical expense deduction saved me thousands. In your case, it could tell you exactly whether your parents might be able to claim you as a dependent based on your specific situation, or if there are any other ways they could deduct those expenses. Saved me from making a costly mistake for sure.

I was super skeptical about taxr.ai when I saw it mentioned here, but I decided to try it because I was desperate with a similar situation - my parents had paid for my brother's addiction treatment. I uploaded my documents and the analysis it provided was surprisingly detailed. It showed that even though my brother was 29, he could qualify as my parents' dependent under the "qualifying relative" test because his income was under the threshold and they provided more than half his support. The tool cited specific sections from IRS Publication 501 about dependency exemptions and medical expense deductions. My parents were able to deduct about $14,000 in treatment costs that would have otherwise been lost. Definitely worth checking out if you're in this situation.

If you're having trouble getting clear answers about these medical expense deductions, I'd actually recommend calling the IRS directly. But getting through to them can be a nightmare - I spent HOURS on hold last month. Then I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that gets you through to an actual IRS agent quickly. Check out their demo: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was skeptical but it actually worked! Instead of waiting on hold for 2+ hours, I got through in about 15 minutes. The agent walked me through exactly how medical expense deductions work for family members who aren't dependents. Turns out there were some special provisions I had no idea about that applied to my situation with my daughter's medical bills.

I owe everyone here an apology, especially to the person who recommended Claimyr. I was completely wrong and I'm man enough to admit it. After dismissing it as impossible, I actually tried Claimyr last weekend out of desperation. I needed to talk to someone at the IRS about my parents' medical expenses for my younger brother (similar to OP's situation). Not only did I get through to an actual IRS representative in about 20 minutes (instead of the 3+ hours I spent on my previous attempt), but the agent was able to explain exactly how the medical expense deduction works in family situations. Turns out my parents CAN claim my brother's expenses even though he's not technically a dependent because of a special provision related to support provided to family members with addiction treatment. I'm still shocked at how well it worked. Definitely worth it if you need actual clarification from the IRS.

Have you or your parents kept all the receipts and documentation for these expenses? That's going to be super important regardless of who might be eligible to claim them. My mom tried to claim medical expenses for my sister last year and got audited because she didn't have proper documentation from the treatment facility showing exactly what was paid and when. Make sure whoever claims these expenses has every single piece of paper!

one thing nobody has mentioned is that medical expenses have to be REALLY high to actually be deductible. like they gotta be more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income AND you have to itemize deductions instead of taking the standard deduction. so if your parents make like $100k, they'd need more than $7,500 in TOTAL medical expenses before they could start deducting anything. and the standard deduction for married filing jointly is like $30,000 for 2025, so their itemized deductions would need to exceed that to be worth it.