In interviews, some who claimed it said the deduction is the difference allowing them to afford mental health care, new chemotherapy drugs, or cancer surgeries by doctors who fall outside insurance networks. The deduction also helps younger families struggling to pay the enormous cost of caring for children with chronic conditions or disabilities, and couples going through costly fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization.

They often face staggering medical and long-term care costs. More than half of those who claim it are older than 65, according to AARP, the lobby for older Americans. “This bill helps Americans keep more of the money they earn for expenses that arise throughout their lives - such as medical bills - rather than providing a myriad of provisions that many Americans may only use once in their lifetimes, and only if they go through the hassle and frustration of itemizing,” said Lauren Aronson, a spokeswoman for the House Ways and Means committee.Īccording to an analysis in January from the Joint Committee on Taxation, most taxpayers who claim the deduction have incomes below $100,000, with about 40 percent below $75,000. But while the party has framed its tax plan as a boon for the middle class, eliminating the medical-expense deduction would hit the middle class squarely, eliminating a source of relief that has helped millions of people cope with steep medical costs in a country without comprehensive, universal health coverage. The change is part of a broad effort to rewrite the tax code in a way that Republicans say will be simpler and fairer. The Republican tax overhaul bill introduced in the House last week would eliminate that deduction, which allows people who itemize their federal income taxes to deduct medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of their total income.

“Losing that tax deduction becomes a double burden.” Hollack, whose husband, Harry, managed operations for semiconductor companies. “These expenses place a huge burden on your retirement savings,” said Mrs. That, plus his other medical expenses, cost the couple $90,000 last year. So 18 months ago, she moved him to a memory care community near their home in Scottsdale, Az., which like most long-term care, is not covered by Medicare. But it got to the point where she couldn’t take a shower for fear he would stray out of the house. However, for a casualty loss that is the result of certain federally declared disasters (Form IT-196, line 37), see Other miscellaneous deductions, below.Suzanne Hollack tried to care for her husband at home after he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at age 69. For New York purposes (Form IT-196, line 20), you can claim casualty and theft losses. Note: The information in the links below should be used in addition to the 2018 Form IT-196, New York Resident, Nonresident, and Part-Year Resident Itemized Deductions, and its instructions.įor federal purposes, you can no longer claim an itemized deduction for a casualty or theft loss unless it is the result of a federally declared disaster. In addition, we provide links to specific current and prior year Internal Revenue Service (IRS) forms and publications to help you compute your New York itemized deductions. We briefly describe the difference between federal and New York State itemized deduction rules below. For certain New York itemized deduction computations, the instructions for Form IT-196 may refer you to this webpage for additional information or instruction. New York State itemized deductions are reported on Form IT-196, New York Resident, Nonresident, and Part-Year Resident Itemized Deductions. In general, your New York itemized deductions are computed using the federal rules as they existed prior to the changes made to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Public Law 115-97). See TSB-M-18(6)I, New York State Decouples from Certain Personal Income Tax Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Changes for 2018 and after, for more information on this change. Beginning with tax year 2018, the Tax Law allows you to itemize your deductions for New York State income tax purposes whether or not you itemized your deductions on your federal income tax return.

2017 deductible medical expenses