Should I Claim Tax Deductions That Will Not Affect Taxable Income?
August 21st, 2009I’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?
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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.)