Should I Claim Tax Deductions That Will Not Affect Taxable Income?
I’ve got over 7.5% of my income in medical expenses but I have so many other deductions (mortgage, childcare, charitable contributions) (and I didn’t make much this year) that my taxable income is already at 0. It is going to take a fair amount of work to organize all my medical receipts to figure them out exactly.
My question: should I even bother with including a medical deduction? I know it won’t effect my taxes this year and it doesn’t seem like any of my deductions can be carried over till next year. Can anyone think of a reason why I should put forth the effort?



One additional reason to put forth the effort depends on what your state taxes allow. For example, Ohio let’s taxpayers deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of their AGI, without having to meet anything similar to a “standard deduction” threshold.
Check to see if your state income taxes allows for this deduction.
However, for you it might be similar to your federal tax situation — if you state tax liability is already “0″ then, it might not do you any good. (But, it’s well worth checking out.)