Health Insurance and Taxes

[KarenLittlefield]

Does anyone know how it works to write off your health insurance expense? I have heard it is 100% deductible, but this would be the first year that we aren't covered by my husband's employer so I don't want to raise any red flags.

[TomCopeland]

If you are not eligible to receive health insurance through an employer, you can deduct 100% of your health insurance premiums on Form 1040. You can't deduct this as a business expense. See my article on deducting health insurance expenses: http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/2011/...eductible.html

Join me for a webinar “2012 Tax Changes: How to Avoid Mistakes on Your Tax Return” Tuesday, February 12th at 8:30-10:00pm Eastern Time. The cost is $25 (100% tax deductible!). To register: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e6vcrqstfc2c8437&llr=yatrx4cab"]http://events.r20.constantcontact.co...&llr=yatrx4cab[/url]

Health Insurance
All exchange visitors are required to have health insurance for the duration of their training program. In order to ensure compliance with these regulations, Cultural Vistas includes health insurance coverage in our program package.

Taxes
Participants who earn income from a U.S. source must pay federal, state, and local income taxes. State income tax rates vary (and some states do not have an income tax), but the federal income tax is indexed by the level of the wage. Participants should expect to pay about 25 percent of their gross salary in federal income taxes. The organization will automatically deduct federal and state income taxes from the paycheck. Participants do not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA) or Federal Unemployment tax (FUTA) because they are not eligible for these benefits.