Self employment loss & health insurance premiums

[GC-FL]

I have been self employed for 3 years.  In the past have been able to use the self employed health insurance premium deduction and still have a positive income.  I will likely operate at a loss this year because of higher business expenses even before I factor in the health insurance premium. 

Question 1: Will I be able to (or should I) take the self employed health insurance premium deduction and have an even larger loss? 

Question 2: If I do have any loss this year, am I able to carry over that loss into the next year to offset positive income?  

Thank you.

[VolvoGirl]

Sorry it doesn't work that way.    You aren't taking the insurance directly on schedule C.

Self-employed health insurance deduction goes on Schedule 1 line 17 (which goes to 1040 line 10), as long as the expense is not greater than your net self-employment income. If it does exceed your net self-employment income it gets split automatically. An amount equal to your net self-employment income goes on Schedule 1 and the remainder gets added in to medical expenses on Schedule A. It will not reduce any SE Tax on a net profit. It just reduces your AGI.

[dev145]

Hello  GC-FL

1. You will not be able to take a health insurance deduction if you have a net loss from business income. But you might be able to deduct premium paid if you take itemized deduction and premium paid is over the 7% AGI limit.

2. If you are not able to use full loss  to offset your other income, you will have NOL (Net operating loss), that you can carry forward. Please note TurboTax do not track NOL. It has to be done separately by customer. 

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