Tax Planning for Healthcare Costs

Everyone is conscious concerning the high cost of healthcare. The excellent news is that some basic tax planning will help you decrease taxes to balance out these high costs. Listed here are several helpful tax planning recommendations.

Benefit from tax deductions for health-related expenses
The federal government permits taxpayers to write off any medical expenses that go beyond 7.5 % of their adjusted gross income (AGI). That may appear like quite a lot, however the EBRI estimates that a 65-year-old couple who leave the workplace with out employer-sponsored health insurance will require $216,000 to cover out-of-pocket health-related expenses if they live to age 80.2 That's $14,400 for each couple per year. If you as well as your spouse possess an AGI of $75,000 annually in retirement, 7.5 % of the AGI is $5,625. You'd still have the ability to deduct $8,775.

Most people don't understand this however expenses for the long-term-care insurance coverage qualify as a health-related expense. As a result, correct tax planning will have you considered these costs in the above permitted deductions for your medical costs. The permitted breaks for 2012 are as follows:

2012 Long Term Care Insurance coverage Federal Tax Deductible Restrictions

Taxpayer's Age At End of Tax Year - Deductible Limit
40 or less	$ 350
More than 40 but not more than 50	$ 660
More than 50 but not more than 60	$1,310
More than 60 but not more than 70	$3,500
More than 70	$4,370

Based on the above table, a husband and wife both age 65 may buy long-term care insurance and deduct up to $7000 in their premium expenses like a health-related cost. This kind of tax planning takes advantage of the government subsidizing your long-term-care expenses just as if you're in the 30% tax bracket, it is just as if the federal government is paying 30% of your expenses.

Use a high Deductible Health Savings Account

Till you sign-up for Medicare you can have a high-deductible health savings account (HSA). This kind of account provides significant tax planning possibilities.

In case your employer provides a high-deductible medical insurance plan, you may be in a position to generate pretax contributions, like you would with a flexible-spending account. In the event you open the HSA on your own, your contributions will be deductible once you file your taxes, even though you don't itemize.

The tax deductible contribution limits for 2012 are $3100 for an and the restriction for families increased is $6,250. The catch-up provision (extra contribution) for those age 55+ remains at $1000. If you don't use these funds for qualified healthcare expenses, you are able to treat the unused funds as you would an Individual retirement account for retirement savings.

There you have two great tax planning ideas to assist subsidize your health care costs.