health Ins.

#4 04-05-2004, 09:48 PM

Jen wrote:

- quote -

> My husband works for a hospital and they pay part of our
> health benefits. They add a benefit credit to his biweekly
> pay. They then deduct the entire premium from his salary
> pretax. The benefit credit shows up in his W-2 as part of
> his gross income. Can we count the entire amount of the
> premium as a deduction?

No.

In order to have a deduction, you first must have the
income. In this case, the amount has been excluded already.

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#3 04-02-2004, 11:38 PM

Jen wrote:

- quote -

> My husband works for a hospital and they pay part of our
> health benefits. They add a benefit credit to his biweekly
> pay. They then deduct the entire premium from his salary
> pretax. The benefit credit shows up in his W-2 as part of
> his gross income. Can we count the entire amount of the
> premium as a deduction?

KEYword here is "pretax" above.

That means there's no further deduction, as any part of it
has already been deducted from block one of the W2 form.

Cheer$$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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#2 04-02-2004, 10:21 PM

jmesser[at]ec.rr.com (Jen) writes:

- quote -

> My husband works for a hospital and they pay part of our
> health benefits. They add a benefit credit to his biweekly
> pay. They then deduct the entire premium from his salary
> pretax. The benefit credit shows up in his W-2 as part of
> his gross income. Can we count the entire amount of the
> premium as a deduction?

Since the entire premium is paid with pre-tax money there's
nothing for you to deduct. See Publication 502.

Phil Marti
Topeka, KS

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#1 04-02-2004, 10:02 PM

jmesser[at]ec.rr.com (Jen) writes:

- quote -

> My husband works for a hospital and they pay part of our
> health benefits. They add a benefit credit to his biweekly
> pay. They then deduct the entire premium from his salary
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^
> pretax. The benefit credit shows up in his W-2 as part of
^^^^^^^

- quote -

> his gross income. Can we count the entire amount of the
> premium as a deduction?

You can't claim *any* of the premium as a Schedule A
deduction because you already got a tax deduction for it as
you stated (and I underlined). Double-dipping is not
allowed.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

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04-02-2004, 10:01 PM

jmesser[at]ec.rr.com (Jen) posted:

- quote -

> My husband works for a hospital and they pay
> part of our health benefits. They add a benefit
> credit to his biweekly pay. They then deduct
> the entire premium from his salary pretax. The
> benefit credit shows up in his W-2 as part of
> his gross income. Can we count the entire
> amount of the premium as a deduction?

No. Only the portion that was deducted from his reported
salary.

If I understand you correctly, only part of the benefit
credit is added to his biweekly pay. The remainder -- the
amount the company paid to supplement your husband's payment
-- would be a *non-taxable* employee benefit ... but that
also means it is *non-tax-deductible*.

Bill

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#-1 04-01-2004, 11:53 AM

My husband works for a hospital and they pay part of our
health benefits. They add a benefit credit to his biweekly
pay. They then deduct the entire premium from his salary
pretax. The benefit credit shows up in his W-2 as part of
his gross income. Can we count the entire amount of the
premium as a deduction?

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->

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