My son gets SSI and additional help from Washington Health care each month. Can i use this as non taxable income for the sales tax deduction? It increases his spending?

[fanfare]

Oh his return ? it's unlikely he will be itemizing.

[oeemankps]

Agree.  However, it was a question that was asked by TurboTax online during the question portion.  It said that it wouldn’t go towards his income but might affect his deduction.  So that got me wondering and hence the question.  I entered it and it didn’t change the refund so I suspect it didn’t mater.  I am still interested in the answer though.

[DawnC0 · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can use non-taxable income when calculating a sales tax deduction.  As mentioned above, that deduction is an itemized deduction, so you won't notice a change unless you are itemizing.  From the IRS's sales tax deduction calculator:  

Your income is the amount shown on your Form 1040, "Adjusted Gross Income" line, plus any nontaxable items, such as the following:

• Tax-exempt interest
• Veterans' benefits
• Nontaxable combat pay
• Workers' compensation
• Nontaxable part of social security and railroad retirement benefits
• Nontaxable part of IRA, pension, or annuity distributions. Do not include rollovers
• Public assistance payments
• And any other nontaxable items