Medical insurance

[jawckey]

Hello,

Please help me with the following. I am retired and married, filing joint. I have some rental income but rentals are not managed by us. So I don't have any company of my own that I run. My income is currently only just the rental income and a little bit that my wife gets from her part time school work. The effective rental income after all expenses, and that of my wife put together would be in the range of $35K annually. Till I was employed last yeat, I had been using turbo tax premium for a very long time. Now that I am retired, but still need to pay for medical insurnace. I might probably apply for medicare and I might have to find a way to cover my wife privately.

- Can I deduct my medicare insurance premium in our joint filing?

- If my wife qualifies for medical insurnace at work, they would deduct it pre-tax. But if my wife gets insurance via her work, will that preclude me from deducting my premium in our joint filing?

- If I buy medical insurance for my wife privately, can we deduct her premium also in our joint filing?

Appreciate help.

regards

[DoninGA]

Health care insurance premiums, including dental and vision insurance premiums, and other medical expenses that you paid with out of pocket funds and were not reimbursed are an eligible medical expense that you can deduct using Schedule A for itemized deductions. However, only your total medical expenses that are greater than 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) can be deducted. Your total itemized deductions reported on Form 1040 Schedule A must be greater than the standard deduction for your filing status to have any tax benefit.

[xmasbaby0]

You say that you are retired---but did not mention if you are receiving Social Security yet.  If you are getting Social Security:

Your Medicare is deducted from your SS.   When you enter the SSA1099 for your Social Security, the amount paid for Medicare flows automatically to the medical expense section of the software, so do not enter it again.

Any health insurance premiums that you pay out of pocket can be entered as medical expenses.   Remember that medical expenses are subject to a very tough threshold and they are an itemized deduction on Schedule A that  is included with mortgage interest, property tax, etc.

MEDICAL EXPENSES

The medical expense deduction has to meet a rather large threshold before it can affect your return. The amount of medical (including dental, vision, etc.)  expenses that will count toward itemization is the amount that is OVER 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. You should only enter the amount that you paid in 2024—do not include any amounts that were covered by insurance or that are still outstanding.  Of course, your medical expenses plus your other itemized deductions still have to exceed your standard deduction before you will see a difference in your tax due or refund.

To enter your medical expenses go to Federal>Deductions and Credits>Medical>Medical Expenses

2024 STANDARD DEDUCTION AMOUNTS

SINGLE $14,600    (65 or older/legally blind + $1950)

MARRIED FILING SEPARATELY            $14,600    (65 or older/legally blind + $1550)

MARRIED FILING JOINTLY $29,200    (65 or older/legally blind + $1550)

HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD $21,900    (65 or older/legally blind + $1950)

[MinhT1 · Accepted solution]

1. Your Medicare insurance premiums are deductible as Medical expenses.

2, If your wife gets medical insurance through her work, this will not prevent you from deducting your own premium as Medical expenses.

3. You buy private medical insurance for your wife, then all out-of-pocket premiums are deductible as Medical expenses.

Now an important note about Medical expenses.

You can claim all medical and dental bills, prescription drugs and health insurance premiums paid out-of-pocket as Medical Expenses in Schedule A - Itemized Deductions.

The IRS has an extensive list of what you can and can’t deduct.

For tax year 2024, Medical Expenses are subject to the 7.5% rule and you can only claim the excess over 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income.

Please note that Itemized Deductions will only benefit your taxes when they exceed your standard deduction.

For tax year 2024, standard deductions are:

• $29,200 for married couples whose filing status is “married filing jointly” and surviving spouses;
• $14,600 for singles and married couples whose filing status is “married filing separately”; and
• $21,900 for taxpayers whose filing status is “head of household.”

The additional standard deduction for a blind taxpayer—i.e. a taxpayer whose vision is less than 20/200— and for a taxpayer who is age 65 or older at the end of the year is for each instance:

• $1,550 for married individuals; and
• $1,950 for singles and heads of household.

Here's how to enter your medical expenses in TurboTax:

1. Open or continue your return.
2. Navigate to the Schedule A section:

• TurboTax Online/Mobile: Go to Schedule A.
• TurboTax Desktop: Search for Schedule A and then select the Jump to link.