Editing Medical Expenses

[AMGallagher]

When I hit "Update" to update my Medical Expenses, the program tells me "the Standard Deduction saves you the most on taxes".  It does not allow me to itemize my deductions even though the California state program has told me to itemize my Medical Expenses to see if my taxes may be affected.

[Vanessa A]

The federal government and CA have different tax rules.  It is very possible that for your federal deduction you would be better off taking the standard deduction and then itemizing for CA.  CA does allow you to take the itemized deductions even if you claim the standard deduction on your federal return.  

The biggest reason you may be able to claim the itemized deductions for CA but not federal is because the standard deduction for CA is $5,540 for a single person which is less than half that of the federal standard deduction which is $14,600 for a single person.  Also CA allows home interest deductions up to $1,000,000 where as the IRS only allows the home interest deduction up to $750,000.

So after you do your federal, you can go back to your state return and TurboTax will give you the itemized deduction on the state if it turns out that it is better.

One thing to remember with medical expenses for both CA and the IRS is that they are only deductible for the amount that is over 7.5% of your AGI.  This means if your AGI is $100,000, you can only deduct the medical expenses that are greater than $7,500.  

[AMGallagher]

Thank you, that is very helpful information.  My problem is that the program won't let me go in and edit the Medical Expenses part.  I suspect it won't matter but I was wanting to at least enter the data but am not able to do it.  It's not so much a tax question as an issue with Turbo Tax, the program itself.

[MindyB]

Whether it is best for you to take the standard deduction or itemize, you still should be able to enter your medical expenses.  As Vanessa A mentioned, the medical expense threshold is typically difficult for taxpayers to meet for federal purposes as only expenses exceeding 7.5% of AGI are deductible.

If you are using TurboTax Online, navigate to Federal > Deductions & Credits > Medical Expenses > Start or Edit.

If you are using Desktop, navigate to Federal Taxes > Deductions & Credits > I'll choose what I want to work on > Medical > Medical Expenses > Start or Update.