"Jane" <googlemail2003[at]yahoo.com> wrote
- quote -

You deduct medical expenses in the year paid - with cash,
check or credit card.

- quote -

Canceled checks are not proof positive that a valid medical
expense was paid, so keep the receipts, claim forms, EOB's,
etc. in addition to the check or charge card statement.

--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
Athens, Georgia

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Jane <googlemail2...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

The medical expenses are deducted in the year they are paid.
Generally, taxpayers report their income and expense on a
"Cash Basis" and use a "Calendar Year" to report . They
report their income as they receive it and report their
expense when they pay it.

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googlemail2003[at]yahoo.com (Jane) posted:

- quote -

Standard practice is for individual tax returns to be
calculated on a cash basis, so you should only include
medical payments made during the tax year in question. This
may, however, include payments for services rendered in the
previous year -- and any checks mailed as of December 31 of
the tax year, would qualify, even if they don't get deducted
from the account until the following year.

Your records should be carefully organized, but can include
receipts, statements, cancelled checks (or photocopies of
same) -- or any written proof of payment.

Bill

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"Jane" <googlemail2003[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

You deduct them in the year you pay them. Charging to a
credit card constitutes payment regardless of when you pay
the credit card bill.

- quote -

No

- quote -

The insurance forms show only how much you're supposed to
pay. For the life of me, I can't figure out why mine say
"retain for tax purposes" when they're useless for tax
purposes. You need proof of payment.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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Jane <googlemail2...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Medical expenses are claimed in the year that you PAY your
part of the bill, regardless of when incurred. If payment is
made by credit card, that is considered paid on that date -
not the date that you pay the credit card bill.

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Jane <googlemail2...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

A cash basis taxpayer deducts expenses when they are paid.
So if you incurred expenses in 2006 that we not paid until
2007, they would be deductible in 2007. One exception would
be if you paid by third party credit card such as Visa,
Mastercard and Americam Express. In this case you would
deduct the expenses when the liability is incurred to the
credit card company. Prepaid medical expenses are not
deductible until the services are rendered.

All of the forms of proof you listed are fine.

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Do I deduct expenses that I paid during a tax year or
expenses that were incurred, but not necessarily paid,
during that year? So - if I saw the doctor on 11/5/06 and
got billed in 2007, is that a 2007 deduction? Is there
something about being able to deduct expenses paid in the
last few months of the previous year?

As for proof of expenses - do I have to show canceled checks
or charge account statements or are insurance claim forms
sufficient?

I realize expenses have to be over 7.5 of my gross income.

This will be the first time ever that we have medical
expenses high enough to deduct (lucky us!) and I want to be
sure I do it right.

thanks

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