medical deduction filing married filing separately domestic abuse

[ktsweety]

my husband cheated and such we are living separately.  I want to file married filing separately.  

The condo is in my name and I am making the mortgage and property tax payments as I always have.  We have no joint bank accounts.  He has refused to reimburse me for the health insurance premiums which are automatically deducted from my pension.  we are not together.  He refuses to sign paperwork to have his insurance premium payments paid by himself instead of withdrawn from my pension.  Can I claim his health insurance premiums as an itemized medical deduction?  In this case must he also itemize vs using a standard deduction?  We are not talking.  I'm pretty sure he does not have enough to itemize and deduct on his own.

So can I itemize his health insurance premiums which I paid for and what or how do I do that?  Any special forms?  Must I talk to him through his attorney?  Please help.  Thank you.

[DaveF1006]

Please view this IRS source for a reference for Married Filing Separately. Now lets address each of your question separately.

1. According to this source, if the  medical expenses were paid from separate funds, only the spouse that pays them can claim the deduction. This would be you.
2. Yes, if filing separate, your husband will need to itemize deductions also. He would not be able to claim the same deductions as you, including the Health Insurance Premium.
3. There are no special forms to fill out. You would just go to federal taxes>deductions and credits>Medical>medical expenses.
4. As you make entries in this section, there is an entry you will make regarding medical insurance premiums.

Reach out if you have any further questions.  We are here to help.

[ktsweety]

Thank you.

do I need to check the “Exception” box in the top right-hand corner of Form 8962 and file that with my tax return?  If so will turbotax prompt me or do that for me?

[DaveF1006]

I apologize, I didn't realized that this was a case involving marketplace insurance. Please read this Turbo Tax link for instructions on how to share and then fill out your allocation amount from your1095 A.  Then you will need to provide a copy of the 1095A to your husband so he can do the same on his return.

As for the premiums paid, please read these IRS instructions regarding filling out 8962 to claim the PTC. Specifically read the instruction regarding Specific Allocation Situations. You would be in Allocation Situation 2 if this is a case of spousal abandonment because normally you would not be eligible to claim the PTC if file Married Filing Separately unless your spouse abandons you. This is the exception  that the 8962 alludes to. If there is no abandonment, then there are no exceptions. I imagine though that abandonment can have many different definitions other than leaving a home. At this point, I will let you make the interpretation.

As far as medical premiums, I will stick with my original advice from the original IRS source from my last post where it states that expenses are deductible only by the spouse who pays them.

[ktsweety]

Wow...all so confusing reading the links. 

My insurance is not through the MarketPlace or from the government and my income is not at the poverty level.  Because of the cheating he does not live with me.  Why would anyone want to live with someone who cheated, disrespected and betrayed you.

Will turbotax walk me through this and complete all the forms I need to do this?  If not, how will turbotax know how to complete my returns?

[GeorgeM777]

You may be able to claim your health insurance (the part you pay and the part you pay for your separated spouse) as an itemized deduction on Schedule A; however, you can only deduct that percentage of your health insurance that exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.  If your health insurance, the amount you pay for yourself, and the amount you pay for your separated spouse, does not exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, then you won't be able to deduct any amount on Schedule A.  For tax year 2022, your adjusted gross income is on line 11 of your Form 1040.  

If you have other deductions you can itemize, and if you are filing Married Filing Separately, then your separated spouse must also itemize.  The both of you would also have to determine which party can claim which itemized deductions, and that can be complicated.  

Thus, if your standard deduction is higher than your itemized deductions, TurboTax will automatically select the standard deduction for you.  

@ktsweety

[Mike9241]

@ktsweety 

Your itemized deductions will consist of:

1)the medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your adjusted gross income 

2) state and local income or sales tax plus other taxes such as real estate and personal property taxes. because you will be filing separately, the limit for these taxes is $5000 (not the $10K that other filing statuses get)

3) mortgage interest subject to any mortgage debt limits. as MFS the maximum amount of debt allowed is also cut in half $375K/$500K but could be less

4) charitable contributions

5) certain other deductions - rare.

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hopefully, you have no child dependents because you lose out on child-related credits if MFS. However, if you do and lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of 2022 and the child lived with you can actually file as head of household. which is better than MFS

********

[ktsweety]

Thank you for the information.  I didn't realize there was a limit on property taxes which is too bad as those taxes were over $5600.  Same goes for the mortgage interest.  

[Jo_Andy]

The limit for property tx is 10,000 for joint filers, for married filing separately it would 5,000.    Also, your medical expenses incl. doctors, dentists, prescriptions, health insurance premiums, long term care premiums, medical equipment (canes, CPAP, etc.) glasses, hearing aids, chiropractor, orthodontist, and mileage, etc.  If you haven't kept track of the mileage, you can type the address of the doctor, etc., into your browser and usually you will be able to get directions which will also give you the mileage.  Just double it for the round trip and multiply it for the total number of trips you made to that address.  Since July 1 the Fed rate is .22 per mile and it can add up fast.  However, you may also find, that you take a lot of time gathering and inputting the information only to end up with the standard deduction.  But it is worth the trouble because the standard deduction is not nearly as good for some states, like California, and when you input the itemization data for the Fed, even if you end up with the standard deduction, it will transfer over to the state where it may be higher than the states standard deduction.  When you are working in TT and come across something you are unsure of, try googling it.  Most time you will get something that will help you move on pretty fast, even when it is specific to TT (but not always).  Good luck.

[ktsweety]

Thank you.