Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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Federal, exists in every state

Tax refunds and treatment-related deductions

Tax credits and deductions can help in a year with changed earnings and high treatment costs.

What it is

Tax credits and deductions can help in a year with changed earnings and high treatment costs.

Changes in annual earnings can move federal credits up or down. The federal medical deduction counts eligible unreimbursed costs above 7.5% of adjusted gross income when you itemize. Arizona itemizers can deduct the full amount of otherwise eligible medical expenses on the state return.

Rules
  • Arizona itemizers can deduct otherwise eligible medical expenses without the federal 7.5% floor. Arizona also has family-income and dependent credits with their own income and tax-year rules; the tax preparer must check which apply.
  • On the federal return, only eligible unreimbursed medical expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income are deductible when you itemize. The 2026 medical mileage rates are 20.5 cents a mile from January through June and 23.5 cents from July through December.
  • Refundable federal credits require a filed tax return, even when no tax is owed.
What you get
  • Federal credits, including refundable amounts when eligible.
  • A possible deduction for eligible medical expenses.
What to keep
  • Every bill, insurance statement, parking, mileage and lodging record for treatment trips, from now.
If you decide to apply
  1. Keep treatment receipts, insurance statements and mileage records together.
  2. Ask a free tax-help service or qualified preparer to compare credits and itemized deductions for the tax year.

A free tax-help service or qualified tax preparer · Official page ↗

Missed years
  • Earlier tax years can still be claimed; each has its own deadline.
Good to know

A credit, a refundable amount and a deduction are three different things; a preparer should check them before anyone promises a refund. Today’s benefit-screening income is not the tax-year figure.

Other details
  • Federal credits and deductions change by tax year; confirm the year’s figures when you file.
  • Arizona’s nonrefundable Family Income Tax Credit is $40 per eligible person, capped at $240 for joint or head-of-household returns and $120 for single or married-filing-separately returns. Its income limits depend on filing status and dependents. For tax year 2026, the current nonrefundable Dependent Tax Credit is $125 for a qualifying dependent under 17 or $25 for an older dependent; the under-17 amount was $100 for 2025. A nonrefundable credit reduces tax owed rather than guaranteeing a payment. Ask your preparer to confirm the actual-year return instructions and whether any separate disability-related provision fits.
  • Medical lodging and mileage, dependent-care accounts and Medicaid caregiver payments have separate tax rules. A preparer needs the source and purpose of each payment or expense.
  • The dependent credit reduces by 5% for each $1,000, or part of $1,000, of adjusted gross income above $200,000, or $400,000 on a joint return. Arizona’s Increased Excise Tax Credit can be $25 per eligible person, up to $100, under its separate low-income rules.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Is there free tax help you recommend, and should we be keeping treatment receipts and mileage for a medical deduction?”

Why I’m asking: We want to claim any refund we are due in a year with different income and high bills.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Keep the mileage log, parking and lodging receipts and every medical bill; file even in a year you owe nothing.

Your social worker

Points you to a free VITA tax site and, if a parent is paid by Medicaid for home care, to the paperwork that marks that pay as excludable.

The care team

Records and letters when the application asks for them.

Who decides
The IRS, on the return you file
Ask your social worker
“Is there a free tax help site for families here? If a parent is paid through Medicaid for our child's home care, what paperwork marks that pay as excludable?”

How to apply

First step: Start a mileage and lodging log now, keep every medical bill, and ask the social worker for the free VITA tax site near you.

  1. Start a mileage and lodging log the week of diagnosis.
  2. Ask HR about the dependent-care account when a sibling needs paid care so a parent can work.
  3. File even in a year with no tax owed; the child tax credit and earned income credit can still pay.

Where it starts: Federal tax return; free VITA tax sites for lower-income families

What to gather

  • A mileage log with dates and destinations
  • Parking, toll and lodging receipts
  • Every medical bill and the insurance statements showing what you paid
  • The employer's dependent-care account form, if offered

How long: Settled on the tax return for the year. A refund follows filing.

What a yes looks like

A smaller tax bill or a refund that reflects the deduction and the credits.

What a no looks like, and the next move

The standard deduction beats itemizing: the mileage and lodging are then unused, but the child tax credit and earned income credit still apply.

Watch out

  • Throwing away the mileage log. Hospital trips at 20.5 cents a mile (January to June 2026) and 23.5 cents (July to December), plus parking and tolls, add up over a treatment year.
  • The lodging cap is $50 a night per person, meals not included, and only for stays needed for care at a hospital.
  • The $7,500 dependent-care account is for care that lets the parents work, such as a sibling's daycare. It is set up through an employer, usually at open enrollment or after a family change.
  • Not every Medicaid-paid wage is excludable. The exclusion is for care of someone living in the provider's home under a Medicaid program; ask the program for its form.
  • Retirement money is a last resort with tax costs. A medical hardship withdrawal does not itself waive the early-withdrawal penalty. The medical-expense penalty exception covers only qualifying expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income; ordinary income tax still applies to untaxed money.
  • The emergency personal-expense withdrawal exception has separate balance, annual and repeat-use limits. Ask the plan administrator or tax preparer before using it; penalty relief is not an exemption from ordinary income tax.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 10, 2026.

What it is worth

Medical costs above 7.5% of income deductible if you itemize; mileage 20.5 cents (January–June 2026) and 23.5 cents (July–December); lodging $50 a night per person; dependent-care account $7,500; child tax credit up to $2,200 a child.

  • $7.5 (only the part above this counts, and only if you itemize) — Medical-expense deduction floor
  • $20.5 — Medical mileage, January to June 2026
  • $23.5 — Medical mileage, July to December 2026
  • $50 (an accompanying parent counts; meals do not) — Lodging away from home for care, per person per night
  • $7,500/year — Dependent-care account (FSA) limit, 2026
  • $3,750/year — Dependent-care account limit, married filing separately, 2026
  • $2,200/year (maximum; not a guaranteed refund) — Child tax credit per qualifying child, 2026

Legal protection: Pay from Medicaid to a parent who provides the child's home care in the same home can be left out of federal income (IRS Notice 2014-7, since January 3, 2014) · That excluded pay can still be counted as earned income for the earned income credit, all of it or none · Parking and tolls count on top of the mileage rate

What it costs the family: None. A free VITA tax site or a preparer can run the numbers.

The eligibility facts, as published

Deduction
itemizers; unreimbursed medical costs above 7.5% of adjusted gross income
Dependent care account
through an employer plan; care that lets the parents work; limited by earned income
Child tax credit
per qualifying child; maximum $2,200 in 2026
Notice 2014 7
qualifying Medicaid waiver payments to a provider living in the same home as the person cared for; not every Medicaid-paid wage

Decisions this site cannot make: The tax return

Expect friction on: Receipts and a mileage log · Itemizing versus the standard deduction

The trap: Throwing away the mileage log. The rate is 20.5 cents a mile for January to June 2026 and 23.5 cents from July; parking and tolls are on top. The lodging cap is $50 a night per person, meals not included.

What changes by state: Nothing here is state law. Some states add their own credits; a tax preparer or a free VITA site can check.

Where I read this

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