F-5
Schedule A – Itemized Deductions
TaxSlayer Navigation: Federal Section>Deductions>Itemized Deductions>Medical and Dental Expenses
Schedule A Deductible and Nondeductible Medical Expenses
You can include: You can’t include:
• Bandages
• Birth control pills prescribed
by your doctor
• Body scan
• Braille books
• Breast pump and supplies
• Capital expenses for
equipment or improvements
to your home needed
for medical care (see
Worksheet A, Capital
Expense Worksheet, in Pub.
502)
• Diagnostic devices
• Expenses of an organ donor
• Eye surgery (to promote the
correct function of the eye)
• Fertility enhancement,
certain procedures
• Guide dogs or other animals
aiding the blind, deaf, and
disabled
• Hospital services fees (lab
work, therapy, nursing
services, surgery, etc.)
• Lead-based paint removal
• Legal abortion
• Legal operation to prevent
having children such as a
vasectomy or tubal ligation
• Long-term care contracts,
qualied
• Meals and lodging provided
by a hospital during medical
treatment
• Medical services fees (from
doctors, dentists, surgeons,
specialists, and other
medical practitioners)
• Medicare Part D premiums
• Medical and hospital
insurance premiums
• Nursing services
• Oxygen equipment and
oxygen
• Part of life-care fee paid to
retirement home designated
for medical care
• Physical examination
• Pregnancy test kit
• Prescription medicines
(prescribed by a doctor) and
insulin
• Psychiatric and
psychological treatment
• Social security tax, Medicare
tax, FUTA, and state
employment tax for worker
providing medical care (see
Wages for nursing services
below)
• Special items (articial limbs,
false teeth, eyeglasses,
contact lenses, hearing aids,
crutches, wheelchair, etc.)
• Special education for
mentally or physically
disabled persons
• Stop-smoking programs
• Transportation for needed
medical care
• Treatment at a drug or
alcohol center (includes
meals and lodging provided
by the center)
• Wages for nursing services
• Weight loss, certain
expenses for obesity
• Baby sitting and childcare
• Bottled water
• Contributions to Archer
MSAs (see Pub. 969)
• Diaper service
• Expenses for your general
health (even if following
your doctor’s advice)
such as——Health club
dues—Household help
(even if recommended by
a doctor)—Social activities,
such as dancing or
swimming lessons—Trip for
general health improvement
• Flexible spending account
reimbursements for medical
expenses (if contributions
were on a pre-tax basis)
• Funeral, burial, or cremation
expenses
• Health savings account
payments for medical
expenses
• Operation, treatment, or
medicine that is illegal under
federal or state law
• Life insurance or income
protection policies, or
policies providing payment
for loss of life, limb, sight,
etc.
• Maternity clothes
• Medical insurance included
in a car insurance policy
covering all persons injured
in or by your car
• Medicine you buy without a
prescription
• Nursing care for a healthy
baby
• Prescription drugs you
brought in (or ordered
shipped) from another
country, in most cases
• Nutritional supplements,
vitamins, herbal
supplements, “natural
medicines,” etc., unless
recommended by a medical
practitioner as a treatment
for a specic medical
condition diagnosed by a
physician
• Surgery for purely cosmetic
reasons
• Toothpaste, toiletries,
cosmetics, etc.
• Teeth whitening
• Weight-loss expenses not
for the treatment of the
treatment of obesity or other
disease
You can’t include in medical expenses amounts
you pay for controlled substances that aren’t legal under
federal law, even if such substances are legalized by state
law.
If MFS and spouse itemizes, taxpayer must
also itemize. Standard deduction can’t be
used. It doesn’t matter which spouse les
rst. Select “Use Standard or Itemized De-
duction” then select the option “Must itemize
because spouse itemized.”
Select to enter medical expenses. Do
not include any medical insurance
included in the Self-Employed Health
Insurance Deduction.
Select to enter taxes not entered
elsewhere in the software.
Personal protective
equipment, such as masks,
hand sanitizer and
sanitizing wipes, for the primary
purpose of preventing the spread
of coronavirus are deductible
medical expenses.
F-6
Schedule A - Itemized Deductions (continued)
To enter multiple
expenses of a single
type, click on the small
calculator icon beside
the line. Enter the rst
description, the amount,
and Continue. Enter the
information for the next
item. They will be totaled
on the input line and
carried to Schedule A.
If taxpayer has medical insurance
through the Marketplace, remember
to adjust the total premium after the
PTC is calculated.
Taxpayers can deduct only the
amount of unreimbursed medical
and dental expenses that exceed
7.5% of their Adjusted Gross
Income (AGI).
Enter number of miles.
Standard mileage rate for
medical purposes is 16
cents per mile.
Qualied long-term care
premiums up to the
amounts shown below
can be included as medi-
cal expenses on Sched-
ule A, or in calculating
the self-employed health
insurance deduction.
• Age 40 or under: $450
• Age 41 to 50: $850
• Age 51 to 60: $1,690
• Age 61 to 70: $4,520
• Age 71 and over:
$5,640
The limit on premiums is
for each person.
Note: Medical and dental oor percentage is 7.5%. Some senior residences (nursing homes) have an
amount in the monthly cost which is a medical expense. Taxpayers can include in medical expenses
the cost of medical care in a nursing home, home for the aged or similar institution. This includes the
cost of meals and lodging if the principal reason for being there is to get medical care.
F-7
Schedule A - Taxes You Paid
The itemized deduction for state and local taxes and sales and property taxes is limited to a combined, total deduc-
tion of $10,000 ($5,000 if Married Filing Separately).
Enter amount paid with last year’s state
return and any other state and local income
tax payments not entered elsewhere.
Click here to open the sales tax worksheet.
See the next page for details.
If real estate taxes are only reported on Form
1098, enter them on the Mortgage Interest
Reported on the 1098 screen.
Otherwise, calculate the total real estate taxes
and enter in the Real Estate Taxes box.
Enter vehicle license registration fee
if based on value (ad valorem) under
Personal Property taxes.
If taxpayers purchased or sold a home in the tax year, they may not be
able to deduct all Real Estate Taxes. See Publication 17, “Real Estate
Taxes” section, for more information.
Taxes you cannot deduct: utilities, fees/licenses (drivers, marriage, dog);
assessments for improvements that increase property value; assessments
for services to the property (sewer, trash collection, etc.).
Note: The following items aren’t deductible on Schedule A: Federal income and excise taxes, Social Security or Medicare taxes,
federal unemployment (FUTA), railroad retirement taxes (RRTA), customs duties, federal gift taxes, per capita taxes, or foreign
real property taxes.
If taxpayers wish to deduct their foreign income taxes (instead of claiming
a credit) enter in Other Taxes and describe as “Foreign Income.”
F-8
Schedule A - Sales Tax Deduction
If the taxpayer has a large amount of nontaxable income,
calculate their sales tax deduction using the IRS sales
tax deduction calculator. See the link to the IRS sales tax
deduction calculator at the bottom of the page. The calcu-
lator adds nontaxable income to AGI to give the taxpayer a
larger sales tax deduction. Use the override button to enter
the amount calculated.
If not using the override feature, enter
the ZIP code and number of days for
TaxSlayer to calculate the deduction.
Leave these blank if you
want the software to use
the default rates.
If not using the override feature, enter sales
tax here for large items (such as a car) if the
taxpayer purchased any during the year.
Link to the IRS sales tax
deduction calculator.
Note: If using the override feature, leave all other elds on the
Sales Tax Deduction screen blank.
F-9
Schedule A - Itemized Deductions (continued)
Select for mortgage interest reported
on Form 1098. Enter amount from
Form 1098, Box 1 (and Box 2, if
applicable).
Note: The deduction for home equity debt is
disallowed as a mortgage interest deduction unless
the home equity debt was used to build, buy, or
substantially improve the taxpayer’s qualied
residence.
Note: A reverse mortgage is a loan where the
lender pays you (in a lump sum, a monthly
advance, a line of credit, or a combination of all
three) while you continue to live in your home. With
a reverse mortgage, you retain title to your home.
Depending on the plan, your reverse mortgage
becomes due with interest when you move, sell
your home, reach the end of a preselected loan
period, or die. Because reverse mortgages are
considered loan advances and not income, the
amount you receive isn’t taxable. Any interest
(including original issue discount) accrued on a
reverse mortgage is considered interest on home
equity debt and isn’t deductible.
For mortgage acquisition debt secured after
December 15, 2017, the amount of interest you
can deduct is on no more than $750,000 of debt
used to buy, build, or substantially improve your
principal home and a second home ($375,000
in the case of married taxpayers ling separate
tax returns) for tax years 2018 through 2025. If
the taxpayer secured a mortgage for acquisition
debt on or before December 15, 2017, the
new tax law doesn’t change the amount of
the deductible mortgage interest. Deductible
interest remains limited to mortgage interest on
up to $1 million ($500,000 MFS).
Points from renancing must be spread over
the life of the mortgage unless used to remodel
(see section in Publication 936, Home Mortgage
Interest Deduction, labeled “Points”). Enter loan
origination fee from closing statement as points
not reported on Form 1098 if not included as
points on Form 1098.
If there are multiple mortgages, make
additional Schedule A Interest entries.
Enter real estate taxes on the
1098 screen if all real estate
tax paid was reported on
the Form 1098. Otherwise,
enter on the Other Taxes Paid
screen.
Private mortgage insurance premiums
are deductible for 2021 and should
be entered on the Schedule A Interest
screen in TaxSlayer.
F-10
Schedule A - Itemized Deductions (continued)
These types of donations are not deductible: political; country club/fraternal lodge; chambers of commerce; raffle,
bingo, or lottery tickets; tuition; value of time/services; gifts to lobby groups; civic leagues, social clubs; labor unions,
homeowners association dues.
Note: The deduction for charitable contributions by taxpayers who do not itemize was modied by the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster
Tax Relief Act of 2020. For tax year 2021, married couples ling a joint return may deduct up to $600 (all other lers are limited to
$300). Additionally, the deduction does not reduce adjusted gross income.
Note: Enter amounts given by cash or check under Cash Gifts
to Charity. For 2021 contributions up to 100% of AGI may be
deducted. See Publication 526 for denitions. Enter the value
of noncash items (including miles (14 cents per mile) driven in
service to a charity) donated under Noncash Gifts to Charity.
Be careful to list them separately.
If noncash contributions are greater than $500, Form 8283,
Noncash Charitable Contributions must be completed and this
form is Out of Scope (In Scope for Military certication).
Certain qualied contributions made for relief
eorts in disaster areas are not subject to the AGI limitation.
See Publication 976, Disaster Relief.
Note: Although you can’t deduct the value of your
services given to a qualied organization, you may be
able to deduct some volunteer expenses you pay in giving
services to a qualied organization. The amounts must be:
• Unreimbursed;
• Directly connected with the services;
• Expenses you had only because of the
services you gave; and
• Not personal, living, or family expenses.
F-11
Schedule A - Miscellaneous Deductions
Gambling losses and expenses
incurred in gambling activities up to the
amount of winnings are deducted here. You
can’t deduct gambling losses that are more
than the taxpayer’s winnings.
Nondeductible expenses: commuting;
home repair; rent; loss from sale of
home; personal legal expenses;
lost/misplaced cash or property; nes/
penalties; safe deposit box rental; tax
return preparation; investment fees
and expenses.
Note: No miscellaneous itemized deductions will be allowed for job expenses and certain miscellaneous deductions subject to the
2% limitation. These expenses may be deductible on state returns.
A retired taxpayer who contributed to the cost
of an annuity can exclude from income a part
of each payment received as a tax-free return
of the investment. If the retired taxpayer dies
before the entire investment is recovered tax
free, any unrecovered investment can be de-
ducted on the retired taxpayer’s nal income
tax return in the unrecovered investment
pension box.
Note: Unrecovered Investment in pension = Total
Employee Contribution less amount recovered
using Simplied Method prior to death.
