Very Weird Medical Expense Deduction Q - Paid for services but never "received"

[catccc]

I am doing my grandmother-in-laws taxes.  She moved to assisted living in late August of 2017.  She was supposed to move in during July, but due to their restrictions, she could not until 8/30.  But, she had to pay for July and August to secure her spot at this long term care facility.  My MIL thinks I should only deduct the cost of care for September-December, because that when she was really there.  That's fine, I'm sure the IRS wouldn't complain, and it is the conservative thing to do.  But I do think we could make a case for deducting July-December, since expenses are deductible when they are paid, not incurred.  Well, I suppose the expense was incurred in July and August when the facility required payment, but services were never received.  So we have paid expenses, not received, and possibly incurred.

Can anyone point to any guidance or prior cases that would support taking the cost of care as a deduction for July and August?

(Yes, I know about AGI limits related to medical expenses.)

[Abe]

I think that any expenses paid to the facility are deductible. The service you received was access to a long-term care facility. Whether the person was there at the time or not doesn't matter. For example, if a person is in the hospital, but still has to pay for their room in a care facility, there's no stipulation saying they can't deduct both expenses.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p502#en_US_2017_publink1000178851

[catccc]

Thanks @Abe
I have scanned that publication.  Do you know if there is a certain part of that publication that explains a situation like that, or so you just mean it doesn't say you can't?  I guess I could also be self-sufficient about this and just read the whole damn thing...  Just posted here in case someone already knew to save me some time.   (Lol, not trying to get a LMGTFY link as a response!)  There's language in it about when services were provided v. when they are paid.  But I think I now need to look into other regulations like 461(h) all-events test and then further into the definition of economic performance...  geez, what a rabbit hole.

[Rocketman]

I would deduct it on any of my clients taxes

[catccc]

I'm think I'm gonna go ahead and deduct it, too.  Thanks guys!

[Abe]

I'm going based on the expenses incurred paragraph. They don't clearly say you can't deduct it if the services aren't provided.

More importantly, the facility should give you your money back!!

[sokoloff]

More importantly, the facility should give you your money back!!

Why? GMIL rented a room there. That she never physically occupied it is of no concern to the facility. Maybe they could refund her some of the utilities or food costs that she didn’t consume, but she consumed the room, IMO.