J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2013: For Preparing Your 2012 Tax Return

17.8 Decedent’s Medical Expenses

If you pay the medical expenses of your deceased spouse or dependent (17.7), you may claim the payment as a medical expense in the year you pay the expenses, whether that is before or after the person’s death.

If the executor or administrator of the estate pays the decedent’s medical expenses within one year after the date of death, an election may be made to treat the expenses as if the deceased had paid them in the year the medical services were provided. The executor or administrator may file an amended return for the year the services were provided and claim them as a medical deduction for that year, assuming the period for filing the amended return (47.2) has not passed.

If the election is made by the executor to claim the expenses as an income tax deduction, and an estate tax return is filed, the expenses may not also be claimed as a deduction on the estate tax return. The executor must file a statement with the decedent’s income tax return that the expenses have not been deducted on the estate tax return and the estate waives its right to deduct them for estate tax purposes.

If medical expenses are claimed as an income tax deduction, the portion of the expenses that are not allowed because they are below the AGI floor (17.1) may not be claimed as an estate tax deduction if an estate tax return is filed. Although the expenses were not actually deducted, the IRS considers them to be part of the overall income tax deduction.

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