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Permalink Reply by Matthew Yarbrough on February 17, 2013 at 12:45pm

If you have enough to itemize you can deduct doc bills drugs, durable medical equipment and even milage. But you would do better to use a flexible spending account (for next year) so you don't have to pay SSI on it. Get a tax professional to help. You need lots of documentation because you will become target for an audit if you take large medical deductions. Even if you can itemize you may find the standard deduction will still be greater.

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Permalink Reply by Don on February 17, 2013 at 1:05pm

yes, as Matthews says, if you are itemizing anyway and if your medical expenses exceed 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income. A flex spending plan is much better because you don't have to file Schedule A Itemized Deductions and all your expenses save you taxes, not just the amount that exceeds 7.5% of your AGI. I don't get the impression that flex plans are all that common, so I'm guessing most of PWD's get no tax break on our diabetes expenses.

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Permalink Reply by Don on February 17, 2013 at 1:39pm

I want to add that there could be certain times of extraordinary medical expenses that will push you above the 7.5% floor. If you need expensive dental work, then you can schedule it all in the same tax year along with buying new pump and eyeglasses, for example.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Yarbrough on February 17, 2013 at 2:47pm

If you do not have a FSA thru work you could set up a HSA health savings account personally. Money you set aside pretax is always better than post tax deductions.

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Permalink Reply by Scarlett5 on February 19, 2013 at 8:31pm

thanx!

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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on February 20, 2013 at 4:25am

I have never been successful in reaching the 7.5% limit. And it is not like I don't spend a bunch of money, it is just that is a lot. The thing to remember is that there are pretty liberal rules related to what counts. If you can get your doctor to write you a prescription, it counts. And the costs that you pay of your health insurance premiums also count. Technically, if you are celiac or have other food issues, your doctor could prescribe special food and all that would count. If you go to TCOYD, that counts. And you might even be successful having your doctor prescribe you to exercise 3 times a week at the gym and count your gym fees (I've never tried this, but I did get my gym fees reimbursed from my health care spending account).

The only time I think I would be able to make deducting medical expenses make sense would be if I had out of pocket expenses that were really large.

And the key thing to remember which makes the medical deduction useless for me:

You cannot count anything that comes from your healthcare spending account(sometimes called flexible spending account) towards the deduction. Major pet peeve.

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Permalink Reply by Shawnmarie on February 20, 2013 at 8:08am

BUT if you have a flexible spending account, you've already gotten the tax break on money in it because it is not included in your gross income for tax purposes. That being said, I also have never come even close to the 7.5% limit to deduct medical expenses. Maybe if I were to get a CGM, which I'd likely have to pay for myself, it might edge me closer.

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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on February 20, 2013 at 8:21am

ROFL. Like tax rules have some logic. We can double dip on gifting stocks to charities, why not medical expenses?

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Permalink Reply by Shawnmarie on February 20, 2013 at 8:28am

Because someone with enough money to gift stocks to charities is probably rich and we all know the rich get richer and the poor get....... :-)

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Permalink Reply by Shawnmarie on February 20, 2013 at 8:29am

But "ain't we got fun!?!"

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Permalink Reply by Don on February 20, 2013 at 8:46am

Fyi, unless you are self-employed, health insurance premiums are taken out of your paycheck and are already not taxed so you can't add them to the 7.5% floor:( I wish I had a flex spending account but they don't seem to be commonly offered by employers. (I suppose they are a pain to administer and record the individual expenses of each employee.)

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