II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 131

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a deduction from

gross income for home care and adult day and respite care expenses

of individual taxpayers with respect to a dependent of the taxpayer

who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease or related organic brain disorders.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19, 1999

Ms. SNOWE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a

deduction from gross income for home care and adult

day and respite care expenses of individual taxpayers

with respect to a dependent of the taxpayer who suffers

from Alzheimer’s disease or related organic brain disorders.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. DEDUCTION ALLOWANCE FOR HOME HEALTH

2 CARE AND ADULT DAY AND RESPITE CARE

3 EXPENSES OF INDIVIDUALS FOR DEPEND4 ENTS WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE OR RELAT5 ED ORGANIC BRAIN DISORDERS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part VII of subchapter B of chap7 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to

8 additional itemized deductions for individuals) is amended

9 by redesignating section 222 as section 223 and by insert10 ing after section 221 the following new section:

11 ‘‘SEC. 222. HOME HEALTH CARE AND ADULT DAY AND RES12 PITE CARE EXPENSES FOR DEPENDENTS

13 WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE OR RELATED

14 ORGANIC BRAIN DISORDERS.

15 ‘‘(a) DEDUCTION ALLOWED.—In the case of an indi16 vidual who maintains a household which includes a quali17 fied dependent of such individual, there shall be allowed

18 as a deduction the qualified home health care and adult

19 day respite care expenses of such individual with respect

20 to such dependent.

21 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

22 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED DEPENDENT.—The term

23 ‘qualified dependent’ means any individual (includ24 ing the spouse of the taxpayer but not including the

25 taxpayer) who—
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1 ‘‘(A) has as his principal place of abode

2 the principal residence of the taxpayer, and is

3 a member of the taxpayer’s household, for more

4 than 180 days of the calendar year during

5 which the taxable year of the taxpayer begins,

6 ‘‘(B) is a dependent of the taxpayer (with7 in the meaning given to such term by sub8 section (a) of section 152 other than paragraph

9 (9) of such subsection) for such calendar year,

10 and

11 ‘‘(C) at the close of such calendar year,

12 suffers from Alzheimer’s disease (or a related

13 organic brain disorder) and is physically or

14 mentally incapable of caring for himself, as de15 termined by a physician.

16 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED HOME HEALTH CARE AND

17 ADULT DAY AND RESPITE CARE EXPENSES.—The

18 term ‘qualified home health care and adult day and

19 respite care expenses’ means the excess of—

20 ‘‘(A) the reasonable and necessary ex21 penses paid or incurred by the taxpayer for—

22 ‘‘(i) household services for a qualified

23 dependent, and
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1 ‘‘(ii) the care (including respite care)

2 of such dependent in the home or in an

3 adult day care center, over

4 ‘‘(B) the reasonable and necessary ex5 penses such taxpayer would have paid or in6 curred for household services for, and the care

7 of, such qualified dependent if such dependent

8 had been capable of caring for himself.

9 ‘‘(3) PHYSICIAN.—The term ‘physician’ has the

10 meaning given to such term by section 1861(r) of

11 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(r)).

12 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of this

13 section—

14 ‘‘(1) MAINTAINING A HOUSEHOLD.—An individ15 ual shall be treated as maintaining a household for

16 any period only if over half the cost of maintaining

17 the household for such period is furnished by such

18 individual (or, if the individual is married, by the in19 dividual and his spouse).

20 ‘‘(2) MARRIED COUPLE MUST FILE JOINT RE21 TURN.—If the taxpayer is married at the close of

22 the taxable year, the deduction shall be allowed

23 under subsection (a) only if the taxpayer and his

24 spouse file a joint return under section 6013 for the

25 taxable year.
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1 ‘‘(d) CERTIFICATION OF DIAGNOSIS BY PHYSI2 CIAN.—Any determination by a physician that—

3 ‘‘(1) an individual suffers from Alzheimer’s dis4 ease or a related organic brain disorder, and

5 ‘‘(2) such individual is mentally or physically

6 incapable of caring for himself,

7 shall be certified by the physician to the Secretary at such

8 time and in such manner as the Secretary shall by regula9 tion prescribe.

10 ‘‘(e) COORDINATION WITH SECTIONS 21 AND 213.—

11 If any amount allowable as a deduction under this section

12 would (but for this subsection) also be taken into account

13 for purposes of determining the amount of any credit al14 lowable under section 21 (relating to expenses for house15 hold and dependent care services necessary for gainful em16 ployment) or any deduction allowable under section 213

17 (relating to medical, dental, etc. expenses), this section

18 shall apply only if the taxpayer elects its application. If

19 this section is elected with respect to any amount, such

20 amount shall not be taken into account under section 21

21 or 213. Such election shall be made at such time and in

22 such manner as the Secretary shall by regulation pre23 scribe.’’

24 (b) DEDUCTION ALLOWED IN ARRIVING AT AD25 JUSTED GROSS INCOME.—Section 62(a) of such Code (de-
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1 fining adjusted gross income) is amended by inserting

2 after paragraph (17) the following new paragraph:

3 ‘‘(18) QUALIFIED HOME HEALTH CARE AND

4 ADULT DAY AND RESPITE CARE EXPENSES.—The

5 deduction allowed by section 222.’’

6 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

7 for part VII of subchapter B of chapter 1 of such Code

8 is amended by striking the last item and inserting the fol9 lowing new items:

‘‘Sec. 222. Home health care and adult day and respite care expenses for dependents with Alzheimer’s disease or

related organic brain disorders.

‘‘Sec. 223. Cross reference.’’

10 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

11 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

12 December 31, 1999.

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