Affordable Care Act Will Change 2014 Itemized Tax Deductions

Posted on April 24, 2014

Are you prepared to itemize?

Even if you haven’t itemized your deductions ever, 2014 might be the year to plan to do so.

If you haven’t itemized yet, you aren’t alone. According to the TaxFoundation.org, most people earning under $75,000 per year don’t itemize and of those earning up to $100K, nearly a third still do not itemize their deductions on their federal tax returns.

To itemize, you need to have more expenses than the standard deduction ($6,200 single/$12,400 married for 2014) taking the following into consideration:

Home mortgage interest
State and local income taxes or sales taxes (but not both)
Real estate and personal property taxes
Gifts to charities
Casualty or theft losses
Unreimbursed medical expenses
Unreimbursed employee business expenses

The big change for 2014, is that the Affordable Care Act will basically cap your out-of-pocket expenses to that of the standard deduction. Consider it this way: if you are making $75K a year, your medical plan premium and your medical expenses could be 10% of your income, add in a few others from the above list and you might find yourself itemizing your deductions for the first time in 2014.

Therefore, keep records, save receipts and plan like you are going to itemize. If you are a business owner, coach your employees to see the big picture of their added medical expenses too.