Turbotax is not taking Covered California insurance as a medical expense when deducting from self employment insurance

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
April 22, 2026
2 replies
941 views

According to the Covered California site https://www.coveredca.com/marketing-blog/self-employed-health-insurance-deductions-and-tax-breaks-explained/ you can take the Covered California health insurance premiums as a self employment income adjustment AND a medical expense deduction.

Turbotax is only applying the first deduction though. In my case I would be able to itemize deductions for the state return if it also applied the second. What's the best workaround or is the Covered California site wrong?

Vanessa A

Level 15

The Covered California site is worded poorly. You cannot double dip. Meaning, you cannot take a deduction for the same money spent on the insurance for both self employed health insurance and itemized deductions. The only way you can use the premiums for both would be example....You have a profit of $1,000 and paid premiums of $4,000. You would be able to deduct the $1,000 as self-employed health insurance since you cannot deduct more than your profit and then deduct the remaining $3,000 as itemized expenses. However, the itemized expenses are limited to the amount above 7.5% of your AGI.

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AmeliesUncle

Level 15

You might want to read it a bit closer.

"What Medical Expenses are Tax Deductible ... Health insurance costs count as medical expenses — copays, deductibles, and premiums you don’t deduct as part of the self-employed health insurance deduction count."