Unfortunately, under these circumstances, neither the COBRA premiums nor your Medicare premiums can be deducted as your wife's self-employed health insurance expense.
You are correct that the COBRA premiums are not deductible as part of the self-employed health insurance deduction. COBRA premiums are considered employer-provided health insurance premiums. For premiums to qualify for the self-employed health insurance deduction, the plan needs to be set up as follows:
- For self-employed individuals filing a Schedule C, C-EZ, or F, a policy can be either in the name of the business or in the name of the individual.
So, in order for your wife to deduct self-employed health insurance expenses, she would first need to be paying health insurance premiums for a policy in her/her business' name to also include your Medicare premium costs.
