topic Health insurance credit for first responders in Deductions & credits

Health insurance credit for first responders

pammby33 — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 22:48:14 GMT

I'm doing taxes for my retired fire fighter brother and can't find anywhere to put the health insurance credit of $3,000 for premiums paid. I volunteer to do taxes for AARP and that's a question when entering a 1099R. Where do I enter this information in Turbo Tax.

Re: Health insurance credit for first responders

MinhT1 — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 22:53:21 GMT

As a retired Public Safety Officer, you can deduct up to $3,000 for Health insurance from your pension.

The law no longer requires that the pension fund directly deduct the amount paid for health insurance.

If this is the case, this is how to enter the amount of health insurance you paid in TurboTax.

In TurboTax Online, please follow these steps:

After you have entered your form 1099-R, continue the questionnaire until you arrive at a page titled Do any of these situations apply to you?
Put a check mark next to This money is from being a Public Safety Officer and click Continue
On the next page, click on the box Yes, money was taken out to pay for Health Insurance
On the next page, enter an amount up to $3,000 and click Continue
The amount will be excluded from taxation.

Re: Health insurance credit for first responders

pammby33 — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 00:29:40 GMT

MinhT1 thank you SO much. That worked. Don't know why I couldn't find it originally. Pat

Re: Health insurance credit for first responders

Gmoyers — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:47:03 GMT

Can you also deduct premiums for your supplement or only Medicare premiums?

Re: Health insurance credit for first responders

MarilynG1 — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 20:17:20 GMT

Yes, you can deduct premiums you paid separately for a Medicare Supplement plan, under Medical Expenses, in the Deductions section on your Federal return. Medicare premiums reported on a SSA-1099 are automatically transferred to this section when you enter the info from your form in the Income section.

Itemizing Required: These expenses are only deductible if you itemize deductions (Schedule A) rather than taking the standard deduction.
7.5% Threshold: You can only deduct the amount of total medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).
Self-Employed: If you are self-employed, you may be able to claim these premiums as a Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction, which does not require itemizing and is not subject to the 7.5% threshold.

Here's more info on Deducting Medicare and Insurance Premiums.

@Gmoyers