Most everyone knows by now that you may be able to write off healthcare expenses if they are a high enough percentage of your income. However, I wanted to pass on a couple of things that I learned from my accountant yesterday, that may help you.
1. Healthcare expenses includes pretty much everything that is healthcare related (even OTC meds).
2. Healthcare expenses also include mileage to and from your Dr. /health provider appointments. So be sure to track those miles. Since one of my Drs is 90 miles away, that is 2400 miles/year by itself.
3. (This wasn’t from my current accountant but from my old one and I’ve read it elsewhere). While you can’t write off a gym membership or a massage on general principle or just because your Dr says you need to lose weight (lose stress). If your Dr writes you a prescription for massage or prescribes that you join a fitness center, you may be able to write it off. I’d check with an accountant to confirm this before trying to do it, however.
Also, the percentage of income that you need to have in healthcare expenses may be different on your state return. For instance, we only needed about 1/2 the amount here in AL to write healthcare expenses off on our state return, as we would on the Federal return.
Just some things to think about as we dive head first into tax season.
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