Income Tax Deduction for Medical Expenses

If you are under the age of 65, you can claim deductions for medical expenses not covered by your health insurance only if these expenses exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income.  A temporary exemption was in place through December 31, 2016 for individuals age 65 and older and their spouses that allowed these taxpayers to deduct unreimbursed medical care expenses that exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income.  Now that we are in the 2017 tax year, however, folks age 65 and older fall under the same 10% of AGI rule as everyone else.

Therefore, if you are older than 65 and have been itemizing your medical expenses on your income tax returns, now is a good time to check with your tax professional to determine whether the sunset of this exemption will impact your projected income tax liability this year.

Attorney Stephen A. Lasky