Can a sole proprietor deduct health premiums? My 1095-A medical premiums are listed in box 15, Sch C. I enter dental directly. Neither count in total. Why?

[kls3806]

I'm being hit with self-employment taxes because these expenses are NOT offsetting business income but rather are showing up as other adjustments to total income. Is that correct?

[AnnetteB6 · Accepted solution]

Yes, the deduction for your health insurance is supposed to offset other income, not reduce your business income and self-employment taxes.  

This is actually a benefit for sole proprietors because otherwise deductible health insurance premiums must be claimed as a medical expense on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, and it would be subject to other limitations as well.  

To learn more, take a look at the following TurboTax help articles:

Deducting Health Insurance Premiums If You're Self-Employed

Form 7206: Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction

Where do I enter my health insurance premiums if I'm self-employed?


 

[dmertz]

Line 15 of Schedule C is only for insurance premiums that your company paid for non-owner employees.

Your self-employed health insurance deduction is automatically generated when you have net earnings from self-employment and when entering the Form 1095-A you mark the box to indicate that you were self-employed.  The separate dental-plan insurance payments would be entered separately as Self-Employed Health Insurance Premiums under All other expenses under Business Expenses.

[VolvoGirl]

FYI - Self-employed health insurance deduction goes on Schedule 1 line 17 (which goes to 1040 line 10), as long as the expense is not greater than your net self-employment income. If it does exceed your net self-employment income it gets split automatically. An amount equal to your net self-employment income goes on Schedule 1 and the remainder gets added in to medical expenses on Schedule A. Medicare plan B payments are qualified as Self-employed medical insurance premiums and should be entered under Business instead of in the SSA-1099 Social Security Benefits section.

It will not show up on Schedule C and not reduce any SE Tax on a net profit. It just reduces your AGI if you itemize on Schedule A.

[kls3806]

Turbotax software is taking the info from 1095-A and populating it on line 15 - I'm not.  Someone suggested that I delete the 1095-A altogether, enter everything else, and then add that last.  Maybe I'll try that.

[kls3806]

Unfortunately the software lists the 1095-A medical expense on line 15 of schedule C, deducts its as other income and lists it as a medical expense in schedule A.  Someone suggested that I delete 1095-A and enter all other forms, making sure to add back the 1095-A information last.  I will try that.

[dmertz]

Don't confuse the box next to line 15 labeled Self-employed health insurance with line 15 itself.

If some of this is appearing on Schedule A, it means that your remaining net profit after subtracting the deductible portion of self-employment taxes and any deductible self-employed retirement contribution is insufficient to support the entire amount of premiums you paid (after accounting for an Premium Tax Credits) as a self-employed health insurance deduction.  The sum of 2025 Schedule 1 lines 15, 16 and 17 is not permitted to exceed net profit.

[user17715308584]

@kls3806   Maybe they updated turbotax in the last few weeks--  as of 2/19/26 --- I entered 1095-A info and this amount was imported into sched 1 line 17-- it did not affect anything on schedule C Line 15 nor did it input anything into the Business section of TT Home and Business-- if enter anything for health care in the business section for health insurance, this amount is duplicated on Sched 1 Line 17--- So I only entered our Dental Premium there and just let the 1095-A values populate Line 17--- I'm only mentioning this since it looked like you deleted your 1095-A instead of deleting the deduction in the Business section of TT.....  In the end, as long as you don't have it in there twice, it won't affect the return amount-- so just verify in Forms that the value Sched 1 line 17 is correct. 

Note-- Line 15 should only be business paid insurance-- for my wife's business-- it is her malpractice insurance but this could be liability and stuff like that-- not personal health insurance IMO....    I also verified that changing the  "Health Insurance Premiums" value in the business section DOES NOT affect the business Net Income so it is NOT being counted twice that way either...  I do wish you luck.

HTH

PS... doing taxes is NOT for someone with OCD like me--- i check, double check, triple check everything....