Year-End Medical Expenses

As the year starts winding down, I've started thinking about what I'll need to file my taxes for 2018.  Having given up our business and retired two year ago, this will be the first year that my only concern will be our personal income and expense.  I won't need the help of my CPA to file my taxes and am excited to download Turbo Tax and do it on my own.

This week I went through a pile of receipts that needed scanning.  We've had a lot of dental expense this year - a total of two root canals, a couple of fillings, and two crowns - and I wanted to see if we had enough to use the medical expenses as a deduction.

I started a spreadsheet and went through not only receipts, but checking account and credit card information to see what documentation I had.  At one time I used Quicken to track everything, but in retirement and cutting unnecessary expenses, I find that Intuit's free version, Mint, works just fine.  Next, I logged each expense for these categories, including the date of service and payee.

I might add that while some of our doctor's visits only cost us $5, and often we just pay cash, it's important to keep the receipts.  We use our debit or credit cards for almost everything, and I like to do that because it's easier to keep track, but if you pay cash, don't forget about those payments.

Doctor
Dentist
Prescriptions
Hospitals
Insurance (Medicare)

Doctor expenses were minimal.  We fortunately don't have to take any regular medications, so this was just for drugs prescribed for short-term illnesses.  My husband had a one night stay in the hospital and that was a whopping $75.   Insurance, which for us is Medicare, is broken down at the end of the year on our Social Security statement.  I looked at the amount we claimed last year, and since there were no changes, I'm expecting it to be the same.  However, I will adjust when we get the final this year, just in case.

I'm off to a good start.  Hoping that we don't have anything to add to that in the last two weeks of the year, I already have a good idea of what I can claim for medical expenses.

Stay tuned for more as I work on our taxes.

By the way ... while going through personal files and documents, this is a great time to record information that would be helpful to you in the event of an evacuation, or for your family in the event of your absence.  My ebook, All They'll Need to Know, is a quick download, and available on my Etsy shop for $9.95.   You can get started today and enter the information from your computer.