Senior Helpers provides many in-home, care-giving services for the elderly in the Evanston, Illinois area. We offer extensive in-home care services for seniors who embrace their independence and the personal dignity that goes with it. Our in-home care services are provided by bonded and insured care givers all of whom pass a National background check. If a senior family member needs in-home care services in Evanston, Kenilworth, Morton Grove, Skokie, Wilmette and the surrounding areas, we are an excellent choice with impeccable references. Home health care for your elderly loved ones is never an easy choice, but we can promise we will do our best to make it as painless as possible. From our family to yours we sincerely thank you for considering Senior Helpers of Evanston Home Health Care Company. For more information, please visit: http://www.seniorhelpers.com/evanston.

1. Senior Helpers In Home Elder Care of Evanston, Illinois, Highlights Top
10 Tax Write-Offs That Caregivers Might Be Missing
Senior Helpers offers tips to help caregivers get the most from Uncle Sam
Evanston, Illinois - (March 2012) – The economy may be slowly recovering, but it has forced caregivers
into a new type of economic crisis: paying their own bills in addition to covering the costs of caring for
an elderly loved one. More than 65 million people are family caregivers in the United States, spending
an average of 20 hours/week caring for loved ones**. And in many cases, that requires caregivers
spending their time as well as their own money. This tax season, Jonathan Wishnick with Senior Helpers
of Evanston, Illinois (IL), wants to be sure that families don’t miss out on valuable deductions that could
help make their lives a little easier this year.
“One fifth of the families in this country are shouldering the cost in time and expense of caring for
elderly loved one,” says Wishnick. “It’s important for families to know there is help out there, such as
Senior Helpers, to share the burden. But caregiving can be expensive and we want to make sure families
know about key tax deductions they qualify for to help with the costs.” Wishnick adds, even something
as simple as taking Mom or Dad to the doctor can be a tax deduction.
Top 10 Tax Deductions Caregivers Most Often Overlook*:
Please note, it’s important to check specific guidelines for qualifying expenses when filing your tax
return (http://www.irs.gov). For example, medical and dental costs must total more than 7.5 percent
adjusted gross income to be deducted.
.............1. Medical Expenses – nearly 100 medical individual medical expenses can be deducted,
including hearing aids and prescription medicines
.............2. Long-term health care costs – people often overlook that you can write-off long-term
care services and long-term care insurance (depending on age)
.............3. Mileage – including doctor appointments and out of town visits to a specialist
.............4. Dental expenses – including dentures and artificial teeth
.............5. Home improvements for aging adults – installing wheelchair ramps, hand rails and grab
bars in bathrooms are good examples of deductions. It doesn’t matter if these
improvements are in the senior’s home or the adult child’s home – as long as the
improvements don’t add value to the home, you can write them off.
.............6. Energy saving home improvements – High efficiency furnaces, insulation, windows and
even weather stripping are included. For more specifics, visit www.energystar.gov.
.............7. Mortgage interest – whether it’s adult children or the senior’s home loans, construction
loans or home equity lines of credit… they can all be deductions.
.............8. State and local sales tax – a good idea for those who live in states that don’t have income
tax. If you do, you'll need to decide whether to deduct state and local sales taxes, or state
and local income taxes.
.............9. Estate tax on an inherited IRA - If you inherited an IRA from your parents, you could take
a deduction for federal estate taxes paid on IRA income.
..........10. Charitable contributions – you can deduct not only the value of items you donated to
charity, but also out-of-pocket costs related to volunteering.
Cost of Caregiving Statistics:

2. Senior Helpers In Home Elder Care of Evanston, Illinois, Highlights Top
10 Tax Write-Offs That Caregivers Might Be Missing
• . . . . . .7 out of 10 caregivers are caring for loved ones over 50 years old. Source:AARP and
National Alliance for Caregiving, 2009
• . . . . . .47% of working caregivers report that an increase in caregiving expenses has caused
them to use ALL or MOST of their savings. Source: survey by National Family Caregivers
Association, 2009
• . . . . . .More than a third of caregivers have been forced to quit jobs, take early retirement,
reduce hours or take a leave of absence to care for an elderly loved one. Source: survey by
caring.com
• . . . . . .The average family caregiver for someone 50 years or older spends more than
$5,000/year on out-of-pocket caregiving expenses. Source: AARP, 2008
Sources: *Agingcare.com, **National Family Caregivers Association
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Media Contact: Jonathan Wishnick, (312) 867-7110, jwishnick@seniorhelpers.com
For more information about Senior Helpers, please visit: http://www.seniorhelpers.com/Evanston
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About Senior Helpers:
Senior Helpers provides many in-home, care-giving services for the elderly in the Evanston, Illinois area.
We offer extensive in-home care services for seniors who embrace their independence and the personal
dignity that goes with it. Our in-home care services are provided by bonded and insured care givers all of
whom pass a National background check.
If a senior family member needs in-home care services in Evanston, Kenilworth, Morton Grove, Skokie,
Wilmette and the surrounding areas, we are an excellent choice with impeccable references. Home
health care for your elderly loved ones is never an easy choice, but we can promise we will do our best
to make it as painless as possible. From our family to yours we sincerely thank you for considering Senior
Helpers of Evanston Home Health Care Company. For more information, please visit:
http://www.seniorhelpers.com/evanston.