Tuesday, March 16, 2010

I have Aetna health insurance through my employer. Are my insurance premiums that I pay tax deductible

I have Aetna health insurance through my employer. Are my insurance premiums that I pay tax deductible?
IRS' website is vague. I can't figure out if I can really deduct the premiums that I pay for my health insurance. I'm not self employed.

Yes, my health insurance premium is paid pre-tax in my paychecks.
United States - 8 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Health premiums are considered medical expenses. You can deduct them only if you itemize and then, you can only deduct the amount of medical expenses that constitute more than 7% of your AGI.
2 :
In most cases, health insurance through an employer is paid using pre-tax dollars. You generally cannot deduct these premiums since tax was never paid on the money to begin with.
3 :
No. You already received the tax benefit as they were taken out of your check pretax.
4 :
Pre-tax means that you were never taxed on the premiums. It is a tax-free benefit of your employer. Your premiums are not deductible. Only after-tax payments of medical expenses are deductible.
5 :
Are the amount of premiums included in the box 1 of your W-2 form as taxable income for the year? If the premiums amounts are not included in your taxable income then the employer is paying your medical insurance premiums for you and you can not deduct them using the schedule A itemized deduction of your 1040 income tax return. Hope that you find the above enclosed information useful and good luck to you.
6 :
what you pay for can be included in your medical deductions when you itemize of course, the medical expenses are limited to the excess of 7.5% of your AGI
7 :
No, not in the way that you mean. If it is pretax, then your employer deducts it for you when calculating how much income to show on your W-2. You do not get to deduct it again.
8 :
Since they're paid pre-tax, no they aren't deductible - you already got the "deduction" up front. If they weren't pre-tax, they might be deductible, but probably not. Would be only if you itemize, and only for the portion of your medical expenses that were over 7.5% of your AGI for the year.

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