Federal Tax Research 10th Edition by Steven Gill, Gerald Whittenburg, Roby Sawyers, Debra Sanders, William Raabe

Exercise 15

Ban Vallew has a son, Katt, by a previous marriage. Ban's ex-wife has custody of Katt. Katt Vallew has a history of emotional problems, for which he has seen a psychiatrist for several years. This year he has become so disturbed, manifesting violence at home and school, that he was enrolled in a special school in Arizona for problem children. Ban pays Katt's school expenses, $3,000 per month. Ban would like to determine whether he is entitled to the medical-expenses deduction (over 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income) for the cost of sending his son to this school.
a. List as many possible tax research issues as you can to determine tax treatment(s) available to Ban on the payments to the school.
b. After completing your list of tax research issues, list the keywords you might use to construct an online tax research query.
c. Execute an online search using your query. For simplicity, select the IRS Publications database from whichever online tax service you use. Summarize your findings.