are miles to medical appointments tax deductible
Everyone loves a good tax deduction. Unfortunately, as taxpayers scour their drawers for every last cab receipt, they might be overlooking bigger deductions and credits that are not widely known. We asked five tax experts to tell us their tricks of the trade on deductions and credits. Here are 10 top tips they offered. Generally, you can deduct on Schedule A (Form 1040) only the amount of your medical and dental expenses that is more than 10% of your AGI. But if either you or your spouse was born before January 2, 1952, you can deduct the amount of your medical and dental expenses that is more than 7.5% of your AGI. You can include out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of gas and oil, when you use a car for medical reasons. You cannot include depreciation, insurance, general repair, or maintenance expenses.If you do not want to use your actual expenses for 2012, you can use the standard medical mileage rate of 23 cents a mile. He wants to figure the amount he can include in medical expenses both ways to see which gives him the greater deduction. He figures the actual expenses first. He adds the $500 for gas, the $30 for oil, and the $100 for tolls and parking for a total of $630. He then figures the standard mileage amount. He multiplies 2,800 miles by 23 cents a mile for a total of $644. He then adds the $100 tolls and parking for a total of $744. Bill includes the $744 of car expenses with his other medical expenses for the year because the $744 is more than the $630 he figured using actual expenses. Trips to the doctor may be tax deductible. Medical expenses can take a big bite out of your finances. In addition to doctor and pharmacy bills, there’s the cost of getting to and from those appointments. The IRS allows you to take a deduction for medical-related mileage, if you meet certain requirements. Figuring Your Deduction. The IRS sets a mileage rate for medical deductions that can change from year to year and during the year. For 2011, the rate was 19 cents a mile for trips between Jan. 1 and June 30, and 23.5 cents per mile from trips made between July 1 and Dec. 31. Can I deduct medical, dental, and vision expenses? You can if you itemize and the total expenses for you, your spouse, and your dependents exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income (7.5% if you're 65 or older as of December 31, 2016). The deduction is limited to the expenses above and beyond this amount. For example, if you're 48 years old with an AGI of $50,000 and you incurred $5,900 in medical and dental expenses last year, you could deduct $900 (the amount in excess of 10% of your AGI, or $5,000), assuming you're itemizing. Medical expenses paid before death by the decedent are included in figuring any deduction for medical and dental expenses on the decedent's final income tax return. This includes expenses for the decedent's spouse and dependents as well as for the decedent. You can include medical expenses you paid for an individual that would have been your dependent except that: 1  He or she received gross income of $4,050 or more in 2016, 2  He or she filed a joint return for 2016, or. 3  You, or your spouse if filing jointly, could be claimed as a dependent on someone else's 2016 return.
Yes, miles to medical appointments are tax deductible according to the rate set by IRS.