The reason TurboTax informs you that your $19,342 in medical, dental, and vision premiums will not affect your taxes is due to two IRS limitations.
First, the IRS only allows you to deduct medi...
See more...
The reason TurboTax informs you that your $19,342 in medical, dental, and vision premiums will not affect your taxes is due to two IRS limitations.
First, the IRS only allows you to deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income, which means the software must first subtract a large portion of your spending before any of it counts as a potential deduction. Based on the $13,787 threshold mentioned, only about $5,555 of your total medical costs are deductible.
The second reason this deduction likely has no impact is that you must itemize your deductions on Schedule A to use that $5,555, but the standard deduction for 2025 is significantly higher than that amount. The standard deduction starts at $17,750 and can go much higher depending on your filing status. Because your qualifying medical expenses are lower than the standard deduction you receive automatically, TurboTax identifies that using the standard deduction saves you more money than trying to itemize your medical costs. It is possible if you are still working on your return and have more itemized deductions to enter, that this medical expense deduction could end up being utilized after all.