How to Itemize Your Medical Expenses on Your Taxes (2024)

FAQs

How to Itemize Your Medical Expenses on Your Taxes? ›

If you elect to itemize, you must use IRS Form 1040 to file your taxes and attach Schedule A. On Schedule A, report the total medical expenses you paid during the year on line 1 and your adjusted gross income (from your Form 1040) on line 2.

Claiming medical expense deductions on your tax return is one way to lower your tax bill. To accomplish this, your deductions must be from a list approved by the Internal Revenue Service, and you must itemize your deductions.

The IRS expects you to be honest when you claim the medical expense deduction, so keep your receipts as proof of your costs.

Health insurance premiums are deductible if you itemize your tax return. Whether you can deduct health insurance premiums from your tax return also depends on when and how you pay your premiums: If you pay for health insurance before taxes are taken out of your check, you can't deduct your health insurance premiums.

It's possible to receive a tax break for medical expenses by itemizing deductions, but a standard deduction could still end up being the better option. Medical expenses that can qualify for tax deductions—as long as they're not reimbursed—include copays, deductibles and coinsurance.

A14: Yes, but only if the supplements are recommended by a medical practitioner as treatment for a specific medical condition diagnosed by a physician. Otherwise, the cost of nutritional supplements is not a medical expense.

Calculating Your Medical Expense Deduction

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 made the 7.5% threshold permanent. You can get your deduction by taking your AGI and multiplying it by 7.5%. If your AGI is $50,000, only qualifying medical expenses over $3,750 can be deducted ($50,000 x 7.5% = $3,750).

The bottom line. You can deduct the costs for prescription eyeglasses and eye exams on your tax return. But they must be a part of your itemized medical deductions, which need to exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.

If you or your dependents have been in the hospital or had other costly medical or dental expenses, keep those receipts — they could help cut your tax bill. Here's a look at how the medical expense deduction works and how you can make the most of it.

Who gets audited by IRS the most? ›

But higher-income earners can face increased scrutiny. The odds rise for those reporting income over $200,000 and, according to research from Syracuse University published in January, millionaires are the most likely to be audited out of any income bracket.

Run a cash-heavy business. If your business typically deals with a lot of cash, you're more likely to be audited. The IRS has found a tendency among cash-business owners to “forget” to declare some cash income that might otherwise be reported, and targets these businesses more aggressively.

Taking Large Deductions

Returns with extremely large deductions in relation to income are more likely to be audited. For example, if your tax return shows that you earn $25,000, you are more likely to be audited if you claim $20,000 in deductions than if you claim $2,000.

For most people, their portion of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums aren't enough to get deducted from taxable income. Most group health insurance premiums are subsidized by your employer and the business pays a large portion of the cost.

In general, homeowners insurance premiums are not tax deductible. If you use your home as a home – without deriving any income from it – your expenses, including insurance premiums, are not deductible.

The IRS considers dental insurance premiums to be spending towards something that prevents or alleviates disease, and therefore eligible to be deducted. Internal Revenue Service. "Publication 502 (2022), Medical and Dental Expenses."

The responsibility to prove entries, deductions, and statements made on your tax returns is known as the burden of proof. You must be able to prove (substantiate) certain elements of expenses to deduct them.

Unless you are self-employed, you can only deduct the cost of health insurance from your income if you itemize your deductions. For example, if you are single with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $70,000 and take the standard deduction of $13,850, you're lowering your taxable income to $56,150.

Are health insurance premiums tax deductible? Yes, they are deductible if you have qualifying insurance and if you're an eligible self-employed individual. Qualifying health insurance includes medical insurance, qualifying long-term care coverage and all Medicare premiums (Parts A, B, C and D).