Did you know that if you itemize your tax return this year, you may be able to claim qualifying medical and dental expenses as tax deductions?
Instead of taking the standard tax deduction, many taxpayers choose to itemize their tax return. This ensures that you’re taking all tax deductible expenses you qualify for. The IRS recommends itemizing your tax return if the number of deductions you’re eligible for is larger than the standard deduction for your filing status.
Medical and dental expenses are on the rise across the country. Many individuals and families have more medical debt than they care to admit, but tax time is a good excuse to start totaling it up.
According to the IRS, qualifying medical expenses include fees paid to doctors, dentists, surgeons, chiropractors, psychiatrist, psychologists, and Christian Science practitioners. You can also include any payments for hospital services, qualified long-term care services, nursing services, and laboratory fees.
If you’re self-employed, you can also deduct the amount of your health insurance premiums, so long as they are not paid for or reimbursed by an employer (hence the “self-employed” criteria!). Other expenses – not traditionally paid by medical insurance plans – can also be deducted. This includes false teeth, prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, laser eye surgery, hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs, and guide dogs for the blind or deaf. You can also deduct the costs of meals and lodging charged by the hospital or similar institution so long as your reason for being there is to receive medical care.
Include all expenses for yourself, your spouse and any dependents. However, note that you can only deduct the amount of your medical expenses if they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. To determine if they do, fill out IRS Form 1040 Schedule A.
Deducting these expenses is simply a matter of keeping great records and filling out the Form 1040 Schedule A when the time comes to see if your expenses exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. If they do, you can claim them on your tax return.
As the costs of medical care continue to rise, this deduction may become more important than ever for U.S. taxpayers. Be sure you’re totaling your medical costs for the year. It could save you a bundle come tax time.
Tags: Tax Tips
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 9:26 AM and is filed under Tax News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
