As a teacher in NJ, I have to pay for health insurance, union dues, etc. Are these deductible? Should I file an amended return itemizing deductions?

[maglib · Accepted solution]

Federally, health insurance uses pretax funds,  union dues is subject to expenses in excess of 2% of AGI. You would only get a benefit if other factors allowed you to itemize vs. taking the standard deduction. There is a teacher credit, you also could take state and local taxes withheld, charitable contributions to see if they exceed the standard deduction. The only way to calculate this is using the interview. Enter all your medical expenses in the federal interview other than health insurance as NJ has a different cap than the fed.

NJ requires you to take standard deduction if you did so federally.  But, if you took the itemized deduction,  NJ taxes health insurance premiums so they can be itemized in your NJ return as additional deductions.  NJ medical expense deduction is at 4% of AGI cap vs. Fed 7.5% agi cap for medical expenses and you also get the health insurance premiums.

TT walks you through the whole interview of what can be itemized and will determine which is best for your situation.