Medical Expenses on Schedule A

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Gardener
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Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Gardener »

I am doing taxes by hand this year and have a question regarding the schedule A, itemized deductions. Specifically, I am looking at box 1 medical and dental expenses. It appears that tallying up my numerous tiny medical and dental receipts will be a fruitless task. These expenses make up far less than 7.5% of our AGI (ex. our AGI is 165k, medical/dental expenses were less than 1k). Do I have to go through the agony of tallying up each of these tiny medical/dental expenses so that I can fill up box 1 of the schedule A?? Can I just leave box 1 blank? Ditto for my job expenses which will be far lower than the 2% threshold. Can I leave both blank? It is clear that neither of these expense areas will provide any deductions for us.
Levett
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Levett »

Leave 'em blank.

Lev
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HueyLD
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by HueyLD »

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Last edited by HueyLD on Sun Feb 08, 2015 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
livesoft
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by livesoft »

Here is a sample 1040 that has been annotated that may interest you: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013 ... n-doc.html
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Topic Author
Gardener
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Gardener »

Levett -Thanks-After doing further reseach, I will simply leave box A blank. Same goes for job expenses. On a side note--I dont know why my accountant even bothers filling in box 22 (his accountant fees), as they amount to a zero deduction for me.

Huey- Good Catch. I went ahead and did some research for my state, MD. Maryland, unfortunately, has the same medical deductability rules as federal.

Livesoft- This is a perfect link. Much appreciated.
jebmke
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by jebmke »

Gardener wrote:I dont know why my accountant even bothers filling in box 22 (his accountant fees), as they amount to a zero deduction for me.
Maybe in his mind it helps him justify his fees.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
Gill
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Gill »

Gardener wrote:--I dont know why my accountant even bothers filling in box 22 (his accountant fees), as they amount to a zero deduction for me.
The accountant enters them in the tax program before it is known whether you will exceed the 2% threshold. Same with medical expenses.
Bruce
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Gardener
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Gardener »

One more thing. My job expenses (boxes 21-27 on schedule A) do not exceed 2% of our AGI. Do I need to bother filling out the form 2106 (employee business expenses)? I notice my accountant included the form last year (which is the reason I pose the question) .
Gill
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Gill »

Gardener wrote:One more thing. My job expenses (boxes 21-27 on schedule A) do not exceed 2% of our AGI. Do I need to bother filling out the form 2106 (employee business expenses)? I notice my accountant included the form last year (which is the reason I pose the question) .
No. No need to include any of those expenses if you don't exceed the threshold.

Bruce
Cost basis is redundant. One has a basis in an investment | One advises and gives advice | One should follow the principle of investing one's principal
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Gardener
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Gardener »

Thank you, Bruce.
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by nisiprius »

I almost missed an opportunity to get this deduction one year because health insurance premiums count and I think long-term-care-insurance premiums count. Thank heavens, most years I didn't even need to strike a rough total, but after decades of never getting this deduction, one year my wife and I were in between work and Medicare, our insurance payments put us over.
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Levett
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Levett »

"Some states allow you to deduct 100% of eligible medical expenses without the 7.5% floor. Check your own state's rules"

Was not the original question about medical/dental on schedule A? I assumed the question was about the federal return.

I have no idea about states other than my own.

Lev
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HueyLD
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by HueyLD »

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Last edited by HueyLD on Sun Feb 08, 2015 7:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jebmke
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by jebmke »

HueyLD wrote:
Levett wrote:Was not the original question about medical/dental on schedule A? I assumed the question was about the federal return.

I have no idea about states other than my own.
Correct. However, some states' Sch. A (Itemized Deductions) requires the taxpayer to prepare a federal Sch. A first. My state is among such states.

That's why we routinely prepare federal Sch. A for anyone who might have a shot at itemizing on state even though he doesn't have a chance to itemize on federal.

As they say, every state is different.
MD has such a crappy standard deduction that there are times when it is to the taxpayer's advantage to force itemization at a level lower than the FED standard deduction. Despite the hit to Federal tax, sometimes the combined state and Federal turns out better that way.

At my TaxAide site in MD, whenever there are significant Sched A items we prepare the Schedule to see if it pays to force itemization.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
Bob's not my name
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by Bob's not my name »

Gardener wrote:These expenses make up far less than 7.5% of our AGI
Gardener, you're 30, right? The 2013 threshold will be 10% of AGI due to the ACA. (Age is relevant because the threshold is still 7.5% for geezers.)

Edited because I was confused about the year.
Last edited by Bob's not my name on Sun Feb 17, 2013 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jared
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Re: Medical Expenses on Schedule A

Post by jared »

jebmke wrote:
Gardener wrote:I dont know why my accountant even bothers filling in box 22 (his accountant fees), as they amount to a zero deduction for me.
Maybe in his mind it helps him justify his fees.
Maybe he just finds it easier to enter all relevant information regardless of whether or not the amount actually provides a benefit. It probably takes less time to enter the amount than it does to contemplate the benefit.

Also, by entering the amounts and having them flow through to proper forms, he probably avoids unnecessary questions from clients asking "Why didn't you include tax prep fees or medical expenses?". Clients don't always understand that deductible expenses don't always provide a benefit.

Finally, the accountant may also be doing this to plan for the possibility of a future amendment to the return. For instance, an accountant may find out later that a client is able to deduct a miscellaneous expense (i.e. mileage) that actually does exceed the 2% of AGI. It might just be easier to have the amount already entered.
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