What do I do if we haven't received our 1099-SA? Also question about including HSA in medical expenses.

[But-I-digress]

As of Feb. 8, no 1099-SA has arrived. When I went looking for information, I saw a question that had been answered by a TTax person that said, "This is because TurboTax assumes that you are entering all your medical bills (even the reimbursed ones), and then TurboTax subtracts the insurance reimbursement and the HSA reimbursement (distributions)."   I didn't add them to my complete medical expenses because I know they aren't deductible, which makes me wonder if I was s****ed over last year because I didn't.  If I don't receive the form, can I simply add up from my HSA statements what was spent from it, and do I need to enter any HSA distributions with complete medical expenses if TTax is just going to take them back out?

[BillM223 · Accepted solution]

Have you tried going to your HSA custodian's website to see if you can download the 1099-SA? You really need to get the form - besides, the HSA custodian is required to give it to you.

As for making a mistake last year, it's possible but not likely. First your medical expenses that are not reimbursed by insurance or covered by your HSA have to exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income to even be entered on to Schedule A.

And, as you know, the amount of Itemized Deductions have to exceed your Standard Deductions to use the Itemized amount.

Since the Standard Deduction doubled starting in tax year 2018, the number of taxpayers about the used Itemized Deductions has dropped to less than 10%.

So, yes, if you entered your medical expenses but didn't include the HSA expenses, the amount of medical and dental expenses would be understated. But for most taxpayers, it wouldn't matter. You would have to redo your return with a single entry under Miscellaneous medical expenses for the amount of the HSA distributions (the 1099-SA) so that your medical and dental expenses are not artificially lowered, to see if it makes any difference on your return.

[But-I-digress]

No, I haven't gone to the website; I was going to call them tomorrow.

Last year, I had to add up all of our medical expenses and charitable deductions anyway, because they came so close to the doubled standard deduction.  At this moment, our health insurance premiums alone for 2020 were almost $12,900.  Our long-term health care premiums were $2700, so between the two, we're not talking chicken feed.   (And, big shock, they're both higher this year.)  Didn't bother adding up medical miles this year, as we didn't have nearly as many as usual, and I didn't look too hard for other things that weren't covered by the HSA...yet.  

I don't recall seeing anything under medical deductions about entering the HSA distributions, and I didn't, because I knew they weren't deductible.  But now you're telling me that if I didn't enter them for 2019 under that, they may have based my "over 7.5% of my AGI" (or 10%, whichever it was that year) on my total medical expenses MINUS the HSA distributions?   That's a heckuva difference.  

$2700 in property taxes and what will come out to $3-4K in charitable contributions would be added to itemizing as well.   I didn't think we would be as close to the standard deductions this year, so I have so far only filled in cash donations, not in-kind, which will be at least several hundred dollars.   I think we may still not hit it this year, but how would I figure out if last year's was correct?   (I won't see a reply to this until tomorrow.  Thanks.)

[BillM223 · Accepted solution]

Well, to know if last year's Deduction were correct (i.e., Itemized vs Standard), you would have to rerun your return with the extra HSA entry that I described above. Unfortunately, you can't run last year's return online. You would have to acquire the CD/download software from last year and load your tax data to it.

Or you can do it by hand.

1. Add up all your unreimbursed (either by insurance or by HSA) insurance expenses.

2. Add in your LTC premiums - AS LIMITED (see IRS Pub 502 for LTC premiums)

3. Add in any health insurance premiums that were paid with after-tax dollars (most employees can't do this because the premiums are deducted from your Wages before the W-2 is printed).

4. Subtract 7.5% of your adjusted gross income

5. Add in your state and local taxes or your state income tax (capped at $10,000), your contributions, and any other Schedule A items that apply.

Does this add up to more than your Standard Deduction? Then maybe you might want to amend your return.

Come back if you have more questions.

[But-I-digress]

This answer clarified finished clarifying it for me, thanks.  I thought I was marking it as "best answer," but apparently I clicked on one of the other ones, sorry.  (Not completely awake; furnace went out in the middle of the night.)