{"id":21945,"date":"2011-03-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/7-little-known-tax-tips-part-2\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T22:02:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T22:02:37","slug":"7-little-known-tax-tips-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/7-little-known-tax-tips-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Little-known Tax Tips (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of what you've read online about IRS problems is wrong, or at least misleading. I'm Darrin Mish. I practice tax law in Tampa and I've been doing this for 32 years. Here's what's actually true.<\/p>\n

In my previous article, I wrote about 3 out of 7 little-known tax tips that you may miss out on in your tax returns. \u00a0 Click here to read or watch more IRS Help resources. \u00a0<\/a>Let me briefly recap on what those 3 tips are:<\/div>\n
1. Claim your Making Work Pay Credit<\/div>\n
2. Claim a tax break for supporting a struggling relative<\/div>\n
3. Claim for your expenses in looking for a job<\/div>\n
Now we continue with the remaining 4 tax tips.<\/div>\n
4. Medicare and Long-term care premiums can be deducted<\/div>\n
Only if your unreimbursed medical expenses (including health insurance premiums) exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) can you claim a Schedule A itemized deduction for them. \u00a0In order to have your AGI exceed 7.5%, you should include the following:<\/div>\n
a) Premiums for various parts of Medicare, in particular:<\/div>\n
\u2022 Medicare Part B coverage, which for 2010 ranged from $1,157 to $4,243 per covered person \u2014 depending on your income level.<\/div>\n
\u2022 Medicare Part C coverage (so-called Medicare Advantage HMO-type coverage).<\/div>\n
\u2022 Medicare Part D coverage (prescription drugs).<\/div>\n
\u2022 Medicare supplemental insurance (so-called Medigap coverage).<\/div>\n
b) Premiums for qualified long-term care insurance, subject to the 2010 age limits per covered person.<\/div>\n
5. \u00a0 \u00a0Include Medicare Part B insurance in Self-employed Health Insurance deductions \u2013 for business owners only<\/div>\n
In the self-employed health insurance deduction provision, you as a sole proprietor, partner, limited liability company (LLC) member and S corporation shareholder can deduct qualified health insurance premiums paid to cover yourself and eligible family members.<\/div>\n
Furthermore, you do not need to itemize the deduction because the IRS allows you to include your Medicare Part B premiums as a line 29 write off (i.e. you claim it on line 29 at page 1 of your Form 1040). \u00a0Medicare Part B premiums for 2010 were between $1,157 and $4,243 per person. \u00a0The additional write-off from these premiums could mean you pay hundreds of dollars less in your tax bill.<\/div>\n
6. \u00a0 \u00a0 Subtract Health Insurance deduction when calculating self-employment tax if you are self-employed<\/div>\n
This year, if you are self-employed you are allowed to subtract the aforementioned Line 29 write-off for self-employed health insurance premiums (including Medicare Part B premiums) when calculating your self-employment tax liability on Schedule SE.<\/div>\n
What you should do is subtract the self-employed health insurance deduction in arriving at the amount you enter on Line 3 in Section A of Schedule SE. \u00a0This little tip can save you a bundle in your tax bill.<\/div>\n
7. \u00a0 \u00a0 Deduct fees when you pay taxes with your credit card<\/div>\n
If you pay your taxes using your credit card, you may be charged convenience fees. \u00a0These fees can be deducted as miscellaneous itemized deductions<\/a>. \u00a0But your deductions will only be granted if your total miscellaneous deductions exceed 2% of your AGI.<\/div>\n
This is covered in lines 21 to 27 of Schedule A.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of what you've read online about IRS problems is wrong, or at least misleading. I'm Darrin Mish. I practice tax law in Tampa and I've been doing this for 32 years. Here's what's actually true. In my previous article, I wrote about 3 out of 7 little-known tax tips that you may miss out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irs-help"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21945"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27521,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21945\/revisions\/27521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}