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Tax Advise

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Submitted By avshishkina
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As you may know, the IRS decision regarding deduction of the newly built swimming pool facility in your house was to reduce the deduction down to $40,000 because, according to them, the “minimum adequate facility” should have cost you $70,000 instead of $200,000. They are stating that building such a luxurious facility was your personal choice and not necessary for medical expenses. Generally, the main rule regarding this subject is that medical expense deduction is available for a capital expenditure, such as swimming pool, if this expense is directly related to medical care exceeds the amount of the increase in value of the property affected.
However, I believe in your specific situation there is a chance to prove that deduction taken was adequate. First of all, the installation of the swimming pool was recommended by the doctor, which clearly means that it is a medical expense. Section 213 of Internal Revenue Code states that there is no ceiling limitation on the amount of deductible medical expenses and you are not limited to choose the cheapest form of medical treatment available. Another important factor is the fact that even after a closer examination to determine minimum reasonable cost, IRS experts did not consider all of the items necessary for the medical purpose that should have been included in the deduction, such as vapor barriers and water temperature. These items should have been included in the calculation of the necessary construction costs which would increase the adequate cost of the swimming pool. I believe there is a good chance to prove to the court that there was no real cost evidence and the assumptions made by IRS were just hypothetical. Also the value of your residence is relatively high, which means only people with higher income could afford buying this luxurious house, therefore building a facility of mere functional adequacy wouldn’t add any value to the property, which means you would be allowed to deduct the whole cost. And mainly, building a cheap swimming pool on a wealthy estate which is not architecturally compatible with the main residence would dramatically decrease the value of the house, which makes this decision irrational.
As your financial advisor, I would definitely recommend to fight the IRS decision. As you can tell, all of the factors above give you a good chance to win this case and take the full deduction. Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Best regards,
Anastasia Shishkina

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