Tax benifits for Greaan car expenses

[deepachoudary]

Tax benifits for Green card expenses

Hello All,

I have question on tax deductions. I am paying for my family health insurance as per the ageement with my employer, which comes out to be $6000 end of the year. Can i claim the tax back for this amount and what about green card expenses.

Thanks in Advance.
Deepa

 

[john_travolta]

who asked you to pay for greencard. This should be done by company same as H1B. Many of us paid for H1B and GC as well because of agreement with desi employers. I dont think you can claim this for tax. It is illegal or company to ask you to pay bt this is not written contact.

Please check with Tax consultants regarding claiming ax deduction on Insurance.

 

[sg1973]

Deepa,
GC expenses - as john_travolta pointed out, you cannot do it.
However, for the health insurance, usually employers make it a pre-tax deduction and apply the tax only on the remaining amount. Is there a reason why your employer is doing is already.
I myself had this situation where I joined an employer but continued COBRA from my previous employer so I had to make payments myself and not through the employer. You might have to talk to a tax consultant regarding claiming deductions on COBRA amount.

Hope this helps.

 

[eBhola]

Hello All,

I have question on tax deductions.What about green card expenses.

Deepa

Deepa,

Yes U can claim the tax deduction .. the argument goes this way .. in order to keep Ur job U need green card ... and for that U incurred some expense.You can deduct the expenses as Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses on Form 1040-Schedule A. The deduction will be subject to 2% Adjusted Gross Income limit.

So it goes this way .. If you make $100 a year and say Ur green card cost which was paid from Ur pocket is $6... then
2% of gross is $2.
So U can deduct $6 - $2 = $4. Make sure U itemize the deduction. U can claim for H1b expense too.


Medical expenses that can be itemized can include the cost of medical insurance, prescriptions, out of pocket medical expenses, and mileage to and from medical facilities. As far as your health care insurance premiums, they cannot be deducted if they are taken out of your paycheck as pre-tax dollars. Actually, having your health insurance premiums taken out pre-tax may well be a greater benefit because of the AGI limitation on medical expense on the return.

And, while "after tax" health insurance premiums are deductible, they are still subject to a 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income limitation. You can move the expense from one tax year to next .. so if U cannot claim this year because of Ur AGR limitation .. U can club the amount next year ...



Hope this helps.