How to deduct health insurance premiums for dependent student who was Marketplace insured part year and university insured the rest when parent is self-employed.

[mg4xswtc]

Since Form 1040 Line 29 is locked/calculated by TT through complex iterations due to Obamacare weirdness, can't figure out how to add my dependent student's university health insurance premiums to my self-employed health insurance deduction where it belongs. We had him on our Marketplace policy (well represented in TT via dual Form 1095-A's to show first part of year when student was on parent's marketplace policy and second part of year when student was not) until he entered college, when we got him on the far superior (greater coverage at lower cost) university plan.

[MiriamF]

Yes, you can take a deduction for your son's college health insurance plan. (Be careful, though. These plans often don't count as eligible insurance. You would have to ask the school.) Whether this insurance includes the minimal acceptable coverage does not determine whether you can count it as insurance for the self-employed, however; only for whether you are exempt from the health insurance penalty.

If the Obamacare policy is carrying over to Line 2 on your 1040, then you will only need to enter your son's insurance cost to the insurance section of your business expenses. If the Obamacare policy does not automatically carry over to Line 29, then add all of your health insurance expenses together.

If you continue to have trouble with this issue, you may need to unlock TurboTax Home and Business.

[mg4xswtc]

Found the Correct Solution: Entered Son's school premium not accounted for elsewhere on line A1 of "Health LTC Wks" (Self-Employed Health and Long-Term Care Insurance Deduction Worksheet) which properly adjusts the "auto-magically computed" Form 1040 Line 29. Kudos to the wizards at TT who put this stuff together! The complexity of the tax code has exploded so far beyond the comprehension of mere citizens that I don't know how anybody, other than a full-time+ tax professional, could possibly hope to figure it out without an exceptional tool like Turbo Tax at their side.

[MiriamF]

Glad you found the correct solution. Thanks for writing back!

[slowreader]

What about the case where the student files her own 1040? Is insurance deductible against earned income? (Well, I suppose it's included in the $12K standard deduction) But is the premium deductible against unearned income? 

While the govt encourages students to go into debt, it simultaneously penalizes those who actually saved money to pay their college expenses.

Thanks!