Medical expenses new jersey taxpayer

[shapiro123!]

deductible of medical expenses by new jersey taxpayers

[rjs]

What is your question about deducting medical expenses on your New Jersey tax return? This is a message forum, not live chat. You have to post all the details of your question and wait for someone to respond.

On your New Jersey tax return you can deduct medical expenses in excess of 2% of your New Jersey gross income. If you entered any medical expenses in the federal interview, they will flow to your New Jersey tax return, even if you don't use itemized deductions on your federal tax return. The TurboTax interview for New Jersey will ask you if you have medical expenses that you did not enter in the federal interview, or if you want to review the medical expenses that flowed from the federal return. Enter the full amount you paid that was not reimbursed by insurance. TurboTax will subtract 2% of your New Jersey gross income.

[Stevenbirn]

Can I deduct an over the counter lubricant that was prescribed by my doctor (will write me a prescription as proof) on my New Jersey return?

[Critter-3]

No.  https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-credits-deductions/discussion/over-the-counter-lubricant-deduc...

[InNewJersey]

on New Jersey resident return Turbo is not carrying medical expenses from worksheet to tax return -- causing me to have taxable income when I have none

[rjs]

@InNewJersey 

What worksheet are you referring to?

Are you using TurboTax Online or the CD/Download TurboTax software?

Are your medical expenses less than 2% of your New Jersey Gross Income on Form NJ-1040 line 29? If so, nothing will carry to NJ-1040 line 31. Only medical expenses in excess of 2% of New Jersey gross income are deductible on the New Jersey tax return.

[SweetieJean]

It worked fine on my own NJ return.  Did you meet the 2% requirement?

[InNewJersey]

My NJ-1040 has data filled in down to line 29 - New Jersey Gross Income. from there through line 52 is blank and again line 54 through 64 -- no medical expenses (yes, unfortunately I have several thousand a small 2% and also omits Line 55 Property Tax Deduction (and you know NJ property tax isn't small either). Yet Line 53 Tax Due shows zero. Anyone auditing the return would question it -- how do I get from taxable income to zero tax.  There have been similar omissions on the years, but the final return version eventually filled in the key lines. Return cannot go in this way and is squirrelly if I write in the missing numbers from the supporting worksheets.  Intuit: can you fix this programming problem too?

[rjs]

@InNewJersey 

Taxable income is on NJ-1040 line 38. If line 38 is blank, you have income, but you do not have any taxable income.

From what you wrote it's not clear whether you have anything on line 29. If line 29 is $10,000 or less if you are filing as single or married filing separately, or $20,000 or less if you are filing as married filing jointly, head of household, or qualified widow(er), you are not even required to file a New Jersey tax return.

Is most of your income retirement income? If so, the exclusion on line 28c may have eliminated most or all of your income. The retirement income exclusions are very generous. If line 29 is blank or zero, the rest of the lines are supposed to be blank or zero. No one will question it. It's very common for people who are retired. No numbers are missing, and there is nothing that needs to be fixed.

[InNewJersey]

Thank you. I am aware of that. Point is another part of Turbo stopping short on completing a tax return.  If a line calls for the entry of the medical expense amount, which makes taxable income zero, that amount needs to show (and likewise the property tax -- before I finished adding up medical expenses but had entered property tax, it was all blank on the "finished" return) and the resulting tax due calculation should state zero ("0"), not just some more omitted entries.  It would old school doing the return by hand, and I would have saved $40 and a bit of a nuisance.  Too much of the software is coming up with needless and sloppy errors, like the charitable donations mess. Filing a half filled in tax return in NJ (or worse, not filing one after years of tax liability - always ended in a refund) would end up on the review pile,

[rjs]

@InNewJersey 

---

@InNewJersey wrote:

If a line calls for the entry of the medical expense amount, which makes taxable income zero, that amount needs to show (and likewise the property tax

---

Line 31 does not call for the entry of the medical expense amount. The instructions for Form NJ-1040 say if you are not required to file a return (as specified in my previous reply) "Do not complete lines 30 through 49." That includes Medical Expenses (line 31), Property Taxes (line 39a), the Property Tax Deduction (line 40), and the tax amounts on lines 42, 44, and 49. "Do not complete" means those lines are all supposed to be left blank. You have to read the instructions, not just the short descriptions on the form.

TurboTax is following the state instructions and filling out the form correctly.

---

@InNewJersey wrote:

the resulting tax due calculation should state zero ("0"), not just some more omitted entries.

---

I think you will find that Total Tax Due on line 53 is indeed zero, not blank.

Thousands of New Jersey tax returns are filed with TurboTax every year, and they do not "end up on the review pile." The return that TurboTax has prepared for you is perfectly acceptable, and you can safely file it as-is.

[FitWit]

Follow up Medical expense deduction question for NJ.

What about the case where I did not include (itemize) my medical expenses on my Federal tax return because I plan to later repay myself (in a future year) from my HSA?  Can I still include these medical expenses on my NJ tax return in the year they occurred OR do I need to wait until the year that I repay myself from my HSA to deduct these on my NJ tax return?

Thank you in advance!

[ErnieS0]

You can deduct from your gross income certain medical expenses that you paid during the year for yourself, your spouse or domestic partner, and your dependents.

If you deduct medical expenses in one year and are reimbursed in the next, you must include the reimbursement as income in the year you receive the payment.

See Medical Expenses.

[rjs]

@FitWit 

Include the medical expenses on your New Jersey tax return in the year that you pay them. The distribution from your HSA doesn't matter. The HSA is ignored for New Jersey income tax.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the year they occurred." You deduct medical expenses in the year that you pay them, even if that's not the same year that you received the medical treatment.

[FitWit]

Thanks your your response rjs. I took your advice and included the 2022 Medical expenses that I paid out of pocket and will reimburse myself from my HSA in a future year on my NJ state tax return. And, of course, I did not include these same expenses on my Federal return.

These medical expenses were payments made in 2022.

Thank you.