If on a 24 month payment plan for braces, do I insert the total amount of braces this year or just the amount paid this year and the balance next year? OOP expense

[Carl]

If this is a payment directly to the orthodontist (and not the credit card company who would have already paid it in full) then you can claim only what you actually paid in the tax year. If you're making these payments with a credit card, it's important that your payments show on the CC statement for the month you actually paid. Not required, but it just makes your life easier in the event of an audit.

[Opus 17]

You deduct the payments when they are actually made to the provider, either directly from your funds or with a loan from someone else.  So if you are paying the provider directly in monthly payments, only include the payments actually made in 2017.  If you paid the provider in full using a credit card, medical care plan or some other kind of loan, then you can deduct the entire amount paid to the provider even though you haven't paid the loan off yet.