Question

Post-Tax Medical Insurance Premium paid for Medical Deductions

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
September 15, 2024
1 reply
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Hello, if we take an itemized deduction and if our total medical expenses exceed 7.5% of AGI, could we count the post-tax medical insurance premium paid for medical deductions?

- My husband employer (small business) pays a portion of the medical insurance premium for us

- We are required to pay $1700/mo to cover the remaining premium which is deducted post tax dollars from his pay check

- Whatever amount the employer pays or we pay don't show up anywhere on W2

Are we allowed to deduct the portion we pay for the medical insurance premium since it's post-tax dollars?

Thank you.

DoninGA

Employee

Medical insurance premiums that you pay with out of pocket funds and are not reimbursed are a medical expense that can be deducted on Schedule A as an itemized deduction.

T

tunamochiAuthor

Thank you!

We are planning to file separately due to the high medical insurance premium being charged to my husband paychecks. I'm wondering if you happen to know if the medical insurance premium deduction should be listed under my husband deduction or should that be split as a deduction under both tax filing (we are in CA).

DoninGA

Employee

Just to let you know filing separately when you are married is the worst way to file. If possible you should file as Married Filing Jointly.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for filing jointly or separately - https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/better-married-couple-file-jointly-separately/L338QHg8G_US_en_US?uid=m14808w1

For your question, when filing separately you can only deduct the medical insurance premiums that you actually paid for from your own funds on each tax return. You both must either use the Standard Deduction or Itemized Deductions on your separate tax returns. So, if one of you uses Standard Deductions then the other also must use Standard Deduction. Likewise, if one of you uses Itemized Deductions then the other must also use Itemized Deduction on their return.