Children of divorced parents

[tmalzahn]

I pay for my childres health insurance but their mother claims them on her taxes. Can I deduct this cost

[IsabellaG]

Yes, you can claim this as a medical expense, if you pay for it out of after-tax dollars (meaning that it's not withheld from your pay and reduces your taxable income). You can claim medical expenses for a child that you can't claim as a dependent because of the rules regarding divorced/separated parents.

[tyodaman11b]

So how do you file it then?

[IsabellaG]

Just claim it as a medical expense.

[tyodaman11b]

That's the problem, Ive reviewed last years Turbo statement and there is no Medical expense blocks anywhere on the form? Line 38 is for Healthcare, but when filling the forms it doesn't ask for expenditures, only asks if you were covered.

[IsabellaG]

It's not in the Healthcare section. Medical Expense is an Itemized Deduction, which you find under Deductions and Credits. If you don't itemize, then there's nothing for you to claim.

[tyodaman11b]

Ok, but to save the hassle of filling it all out to just be denied, what are requirements for itemizing? I'm not a Tax professional so all I'm hearing is a foreign language, lol. But I'm sure there is some sort of requirement, there always is.

[IsabellaG]

Of course! It all depends on your filing status. Your Itemized deductions must be higher than $6300 if you're single or Married filing separately, $12600 if you are filing a joint return, and $9300 if you are Head of Household.

Plus, your Medical Expenses would have to be higher than 10% of your Adjusted Gross Income in order to claim any of them.

If you can't itemize, you get the Standard Deduction instead (that's those amounts that I showed above).

[tyodaman11b]

My insurance premiums for my children are $3700 a year, so not even close to the $6300. But my wages were only $6800 as I am a full time student also. Over 50% of my income goes to healthcare. But since I'm not paying $6300 I cant file it, wow.

[IsabellaG]

But if your income is only $6800, if you subtract the standard deduction you already get that leaves you with only $500 in taxable income. And if you are allowed to claim yourself as a dependent, you can claim an exemption of $4050, so there's NO taxable income. Zero. So you pay no tax. I don't see the issue.

[tyodaman11b]

Yes, last years statement gave me $4000 exemption, and lists a $0 taxable income on 1040A. I'm only trying to find ways to better my return as living of $3000 for the entire year is tough, $250 a month income. Plus I have my children 40% of the time so feeding them etc is expensive. Couple that with vehicle insurance, fuel costs for traveling to school 120 mile round trip each day, leaves me eating ramen noodles, and not eating at all some days. It sucks. lol. While my ex wife NETS over $3000 a month and pays nothing along with getting all the tax benefits.