The IRS Deductions Blog

Archive for June, 2009

Question: Are vitamins tax deductible? NYS.?

I want to start eating healthy and buying supplements. Can I write these off?

Answer: Food and over-the-counter medicines, including vitamins and herbal supplements, are Not Tax Deductible. Only prescription medications, and your medical expenses (including doctors, etc.) have to be over 7.5% of your income. So, while there are a lot of things that qualify for a medical deduction, it is rare-ish that anyone actually qualifies to take them.

You’d have to buy some extremely expensive, prescription-only, vitamins.

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Reforms bode ill for tax-free health accounts

Tens of millions of consumers face higher costs for over-the-counter medicines such as cold remedies and vitamins if Democrats keep a provision in their health care overhaul bills to limit the use of tax-free health care spending accounts. Consumers no longer would be able to tap their flexible spending accounts to make health-related purchases without a doctor’s approval, which critics say …

www.immunotec.com/184441

Items on Amazon Right Now for Gps Tax Deduction:

Automatic Mileage Logger For years independent business owners have relied solely on pen, paper and sheer will to deduct mileage at the end of every tax year. As the government raises mileage rates, now at $.505, it’s becoming more and more appealing for micro business owners to keep legitimate mileage log books. You of course know what increases in mileage tax rates mean…increased IRS audit scrutiny. Until recently …

Gap Inc. Reports First Quarter Earnings Per Share up 45%

SAN FRANCISCO—-Gap Inc. continued to deliver top line growth, with increased sales across all of its brands in the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 compared with the first quarter last year.

2007 Chrysler Town & Country in Huntington Beach – Anaheim,

Question: Can someone help me figure out how health insurance deductibles work?

I am looking at a plan that the premium is $104/per month. The deductible is $2500 and the out of pocket maximum is $5500. The coinsurance is 30% after the deductible, the office visit copay is $30 for 3 visits and 30% coinsurance after deductible. For Preventive Care and Lab work the plan pays 70%.

My question is what would I be paying for after my first visit to the doctor besides my premium that I would pay?

Answer: You’d pay your premium and other than the three visits where you pay only the $30 you’ll pay the entire discounted amount (the amount the insurance company/network has negotiated for you services) until you’ve paid $2500. After that you’ll pay 30% of your negotiated bills, BUT if you end up with a $100,000 hospital bill you won’t pay $30,000 — you’ll get capped out at your $5500 out of pocket maximum (which may or may not include the amount you already paid for the deductible – each plan is different).

HOWEVER, that being said you need to be working with an insurance broker because this question should be for him or her. DON’T by a plan without using an insurance broker that can help you out. There is no cost to use one, but it can be VERY expensive not to have one.

There are very reptutable companies that sell very good plans along side limited-benefit plans. DON’T buy a limited benefit plan — the broker can help you avoid that.

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The Basics Of Medical Billing $27.00 This no nonsense book tells you all you need to know to understand medical billing. Written by a mother/daughter team who have been running a medical billing service since 1994 it contains the facts without the fluff. Revised in June 2010 to almost double the content. It contains information about primary, secondary and tertiary claims, participation with insurance carriers, indemnity, hmos, pp…

The Profit Trap: Secrets the Health Insurance Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know (First in a Series) Healthcare reform or not! If you buy, change, cancel or own health insurance of any kind (public, private or group) in your lifetime you better have this book first. America has been kept uneducated on purpose about how healthcare and health insurance really works for decades. Gain control over your quality, access and costs of your healthcare once and for all. Never be taken advantage of again by…

MFD set to take over medical transport

Massillon’s paramedics begin transporting patients to the hospital on Friday.

Senator Grassley’s health care solution? Get a job like his.

Question: Recharacterization non-Deductible Amount from Tra. IRA to Roth IRA in-kind?

I would like to recharacterize some of my 2008 contribution from Tra. IRA to Roth IRA due to ineligibility to receive a full tax deduction. I found some advice/formula to calculate earning when filing income tax return http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/03/092403.asp but this doesn’t solve my problem when I try to recharacterize the non-deductible amount in-kind (stock). Here is my scenario:
2/1/2008 contribute $100 to Tra. IRA and bought 5 stock A @ 20
3/1/2008 contribute $100 to Tra. IRA and bought 10 stock A @ 10

Now when filing income tax, I realize my non-deductible is $50 and stock A is in the price range of $5/share. What I want to do in this scenario here is to recharacterize $50 from Tra. IRA to Roth IRA in-kind without selling my stock and convert to cash.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer: Hi, I think you are approaching this from the wrong point of view. A re-characterization of a IRA contribution is at face value. It doesn’t matter what it is worth now in your case, what matters is the dollar value of the contribution you made to the account.

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Congress, IRS, Acting More Charitable For a Change, CCH Notes

Taxpayers have until the end of this month to make a cash charitable donation for Haiti earthquake relief and deduct it on their 2009 return, according to CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business and a leading provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services .

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The disadvantages of aggregate deductibles (Discussion paper) …

Tax Filing Obligations

In case a non-resident enterprise transfers the shares of a PRC resident enterprise and there is no withholding agent or the withholding agent fails to fulfill the withholding obligation, the transferor shall perform tax filings within seven days commencing from the agreed date of the share transfer, or from the date when a transferor actually receives the purchase price that is paid prior to …