Age 66 years old, have 1 Rental House and want to know about self employment health care premium deductions

[44619herman]

I am a 66 year old retiree and have 1 rental house that I rent out. I am on Medicare and also pay insurance premiums thru my former employer for my wife who is not 65 years old. I recently read an article that stated self-employed people (who earn a profit from their self employment) are allowed to deduct their health insurance premiums on Schedule 1 of the 1040 as an "above the line" deduction with means it lowers their AGI. Furthermore, it stated that since 2012, the  IRS has allowed self-employed individuals to deduct all Medicare premiums (included premiums for Medicare Part B). According to this article, "you can only deduct your premiums as much as you earn from your business".  I have the Turbo Tax Deluxe (Federal and State) version, and use that product to report my rental property income on Schedule E. When I tried to add the Medicare premium to Schedule 1, line 16, it doesn't seem to allow me to add my health care Medicare premiums expenses (unless I over ride it).  Has anyone else that only uses Schedule E (and not Schedule C) to report rental income and is above 65 years old deducting self-employed health insurance? Thanks

[VolvoGirl]

Sorry but rental income is not self employment income it is passive income.  You need to have earned income from a business on schedule C.  

[Bsch4477]

Since rental income is not considered self employment income (unless you are a management company) you can’t use the self employment medical deduction. 

[44619herman]

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your quick response. I was thinking that I needed to revise two years of taxes to take advantage of this deduction.  Now my mind is at ease. Thanks again.

[KeithKay]

We are old and retired and have rental property reported on sch. E.  I have been overriding the self employment health insurance deduction which is now on Schedule 1 - Line 16 for several years and entering the medical and long term care premium costs then I printed the tax return so I could hand write on line 16 "Sch. E" in order for it to be clear what I was doing. I send the printed tax forms to the IRS each year so they can see what I did. They have never questioned this yet. 

Now in the 2020 TurboTax they do not allow Sch. 1 - Line 16 override.  - Keith