[hga]

It's very much not my impression that most people can deduct health expenses. Here from the horse's mouth (http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/2013-changes-to-itemized-dedu...):

"Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, you can claim deductions for medical expenses not covered by your health insurance that exceed 10 percent of your adjusted gross income."

Previously it was 7.5%, but it's nothing if you can't file a Schedule A to itemize, and my very rough understanding is that few who aren't paying down a mortgage can do so.

[originofspecie]

I may be reading this wrong, but from what I understand anyone can file a Schedule A (which allows you to itemize your deductions), but in doing so you give up the standard deductions for your tax bracket, which for a single filer is 5350. So at 7.5% of her adjusted gross of ~25k which is $1875. So if her medical expenses are less than 5350 it would most likely make the most sense for her to take the standard deduction. Otherwise according to this info she should be able to write off the full amount.

I could be entirely wrong about this. I am not a tax professional, but I do think that a little bit of financial planning could go a long way in these types of situatons.

[hga]

Ah, "can" was too strong, "saves money over taking the standard deduction" is what I meant.

I noticed something about a 2% haircut when skimming Wikipedia's entry on this, don't know if it would apply. Properly filling out a Schedule A would also cost, either in paying a preparer or opportunity cost in learning how to do it.

[originofspecie]

Agreed. These write offs were more of an after thought. It looks like she could also write off her educational costs as long as they are to "advance her career", which would effectively bring her gross taxable income pretty darn low and keep the financial aid coming.

That is, of course, if she is footing the bill like she says and her parents aren't helping her out.