Are insurance copays for DME deductible?

Jetmech · Post by **Jetmech** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:38 am

Hi all! Haven't posted here in quite a while, hope everyone is doing well.Its that wonderful time of the year and getting ready to sit down and do the TurboTax boogie!To ask a dumb question are medical exspenses,ie insurance co-pays and exspenses for DME tax deductable?

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:49 am

Yes!

But realize that your total out-of-pocket medical expenses have to exceed a certain percentage of your income. Enter ALL of your out-of-pocket medical related expenses (including mileage to/from the Doc/pharmacy etc...) and TurboTax will calculate what your deduction (if any) will be.

yardbird · Post by **yardbird** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:51 am

out of pocket medical expenses are deductible. You can't claim anything for which you have been reimbursed by insurance, but if you spent your money and it was NOT reimbursed, then it's a deductible medical expense.

The only problem I have with deducting medical expenses is that you need a LARGE dollar amount for it to work.

Oh... and a co-pay IS a medical expense. It is money out of YOUR pocket to pay for medical expenses.

Joe_0206 · Post by **Joe_0206** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:05 pm

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:45 pm

Joe_0206 wrote:A quick way to check is to look at the standard deduction and see if ALL of your deductions will exceed that. Preferably, double. If it's just a few dollars more (under $100,) it may not be of much help.

No need to check this out yourself... the software will decide which way (standard deduction or itemized) will net you the lowest tax.

Kemosabe · Post by **Kemosabe** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 9:58 am

Your medical expenses need to exceed 7.5% of your AGI before you can deduct them. Sorry.

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc502.html

More or less, only people who have had major problems with their health can deduct anything medical.

Janelle · Post by **Janelle** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:41 am

And don't forget costs of eye exams and eyeglasses or contacts, which most medical plans do not cover. Also co-pays on Rxs, lab work, Xrays, MRIs, Sleep Tests, office visits, cost of insurance premiums, too.

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:46 am

Kemosabe wrote:More or less, only people who have had major problems with their health can deduct anything medical.

And even then it may not be enough.

I've had two eye surgeries this past year and one of my daughters had eyelid surgery. Still not enough to qualify. The saving grace is that, although I have a high deductible ($5000), I also have a medical savings account which uses pre-tax dollars. I actually do much better this way than if I'd taken the deduction.

Regards,
Bill

Joe_0206 · Post by **Joe_0206** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 5:42 pm

jimh1 · Post by **jimh1** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:43 pm

Don't forget to inlcude your medical premiums withheld from your paycheck. They are deductible too.

Kemosabe · Post by **Kemosabe** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:15 am

I do a lot of taxes (over 600 clients last year), and for the most part the people who can make it over the 7.5% of AGI bar are on fixed incomes and have staggering medical expenses. IMO, anyone who qualifies really needs the deduction.

jimh1 and Janelle have listed a lot of the possible deductions. I'd like to add "Medical miles". Any mileage you drive for purely medical reasons is deductable. I'd have to check but I think it's 37.5 cents per mile this year.

Why is the tax rate on capital gains an issue when we're making it so hard for ordinary folks to catch a break on their ever rising medical expenses? Why is it so hard for poor single mothers to apply for EIC? (try filling out a EIC worksheet sometime and you'll know what I mean)

Ask your fatcat congressman. Congress makes the tax laws, the IRS simply carries them out. Aim your ire where it it deserved.

[/rant]

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:50 am

Kemosabe wrote:I do a lot of taxes (over 600 clients last year)... I'd like to add "Medical miles". Any mileage you drive for purely medical reasons is deductable. I'd have to check but I think it's 37.5 cents per mile this year.

HEY! I already mentioned the mileage deduction above!

...You don't get to claim the usual per mile amount but it is still something.

From the IRS...

Car expenses. You can include out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of gas and oil, when you use a car for medical reasons. You cannot include depreciation, insurance, general repair, or maintenance expenses.

If you do not want to use your actual expenses, for 2005 you can use a standard rate of 15 cents a mile for use of a car for medical reasons before September 1, 2005. The standard rate allowed for use of a car when you use it for medical reasons after August 31, 2005, is 22 cents a mile.

You can also include parking fees and tolls. You can add these fees and tolls to your medical expenses whether you use actual expenses or use the standard mileage rate.

BTW, how do you get 600+ people to do their taxes with a guy in a mask????

Kemosabe · Post by **Kemosabe** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:38 pm

I doff my "Clark Kent" outfit for work. Unfortunately heroing doesn't pay the bills.

Joe_0206 · Post by **Joe_0206** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:49 am

TerryB · Post by **TerryB** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:07 pm

The best way to get the medical expenses "deducted" is to use the medical flex account. I have X pretax dollars withheld and pay myself back by filing with the flex account administrator. Only gotcha is if you overestimate what to withhold. You use it or loose it so too much withholding is forfeited.

TerryB

I claim co-pays, eyeglass adders for work glasses, OTC drugs. I've always come out just a little over my withhold, so no money evaporates.