Health insurance premiums
The Main Question: If you pay for your health insurance premiums out of pocket (post tax) as a W2 employee, are you allowed to deduct the premiums if you take the standard deduction? If not, why? Surely this disadvantages W2 employees that aren't on employer health care as those that are have their portions of the employer health care premiums taken out pretax as such have a tax break build in. I am a PhD candidate. During the first two years of my PhD, I paid for my health insurance premiums, which were billed to my bursar account, in one lump sum. However, this year, I decided to take advantage of the offer from the graduate school and have my health insurance premiums deducted incrementally from my paycheck. When health insurance premiums are deducted from the paycheck, they are taken out on a pre-tax basis. My health insurance premiums do not appear anywhere on my W2 form. My W2 only includes basic information such as wages and taxes withheld. That's it. If I were considered a "proper employee," these premiums would be reflected in Box(es) 12 of the W2. My 1095-B has only proof that i am insured, and has nothing that says how much premiums were. So, my concern is whether I am inadvertently misleading the IRS by receiving a tax benefit that isn't reported. Did I miss out on any tax benefits during my first two years or is this a tax law that specifically benefits those with employer health insurance plans? Or could it be a combination of both?
