My wife and I have always filed jointly. In 2013, I was a self-employed translator and my wife was unemployed except for two short periods of employment. I earned about 90% of our joint income. We had a health insurance plan that was not connected with my wife's employment (neither of her employers offered health insurance). Premiums were paid from our joint bank account. However, the plan was in her name. Can we claim the self-employed health insurance deduction?

ANSWER

The BIDaWIZ Team's Answer:

Generally speaking, you can deduct self-employment health insurance premiums via line 29 of your form 1040 when the policy is the business name or the name of the sole proprietor. This is referenced in Internal Revenue Code Section 162(l) and IRS Publication 535. Thus, the fact that the policy was in your spouse's name would hurt your eligibility for the deduction. However, is your wife also a partner of the business and is the business setup as a joint venture? Also, why is the policy only in your spouse's name? We're assuming this is an unincorporated business, but any detail you could provide would be helpful.