Reminders. Newsletter. September 2024

Medicare & Medical Expenses

Turning 65?

When to sign up for Medicare & Social Security

For Medicare, sign up a few months before your birthday.

For Social Security, you have more options

You become eligible for Medicare based on age when you turn 65, but you can sign up a few months earlier to ease the transition.

Your Medicare initial enrollment period generally starts three months before you turn 65. Signing up before your birthday allows you to consider your coverage options and get everything ready before your benefits kick in.

You have more choices for when to start receiving Social Security benefits, but you should still sign up a few months before you want those monthly payouts to begin.

You won’t necessarily start receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits at the same time. Whereas most people get Medicare at age 65, you have more options for when to start your Social Security benefits.

You can apply for Social Security benefits up to four months before you want the benefits to start. The earliest you can qualify for age-based Social Security benefits is when you turn 62, so the earliest you could apply would be four months before your 62nd birthday. But you might want to wait.

Further reading:

https://www.ssa.gov/medicare/plan/when-to-sign-up

https://rb.gy/67pstt

You should typically sign up for Medicare around your 65 th birthday.

You can apply for age-based Social Security between ages 62 and 70.
You may be able to delay signing up for some parts of Medicare.
You may be automatically enrolled in Medicare if you’re receiving Social Security

Note: I can assist you in the enrollment process. Let me know when you are ready!

Medical and dental expenses

What expenses can and cannot be claimed

Publication 502 explains the itemized deduction for medical and dental expenses that you claim on Schedule A (Form 1040), including:

What expenses, and whose expenses, you can and cannot include in figuring the deduction.

Examples: Ambulance, Laboratory fees, Eye contacts for yourself and dependents

How to treat reimbursements and how to figure the deduction.

Example: If you have medical expenses that are reimbursed by an HRA, you cannot include those expenses in your medical expenses

How to report the deduction on your tax return and what to do if you sell medical property or receive damages for a personal injury.

Example: You can include in medical expenses the cost of keeping a person who is intellectually and developmentally disabled in a special home, but not in the home of a relative

As of 12/212023: What's New

Standard mileage rate. The standard mileage rate allowed for operating expenses for a car when you use it for medical reasons is 22 cents a mile.

FIND OUT MORE

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-502

THINGS TO REMEMBER

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If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, and I would be happy to guide you through your situation