The IRS recently published information about the non-taxability of unemployment benefits.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (or Stimulus Bill) has given individuals that are collecting unemployment benefits in 2009, the ability to exclude the first $2,400 of these benefits. The exclusion applies to each individual separately even for married couples filing. This exclusion applies only to benefits received in 2009, so this will not reduce the taxable wages for the 2008 year form 1040 that most people are filing currently. Further information can be found posted at the IRS website at the following address: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=205633,00.html.
Further research revealed that only the portion which exceeds a 7.5% threshold of adjusted gross income for all medical expenses combined would be deductible ftp hosting service. In English, that meant that if I had an income of $50,000, I would only be able to deduct my extra expense of gluten-free foods (and any other legally deductible medical expense) that exceeded $3,750 (7.5% of $50,000)! Well, gluten-free foods are not that expensive video hosting service!
Knowing I would never reach that deductibility threshold, my search continued. Suddenly, a rare epiphany befell me. Since the IRS had ruled specialty foods that are medically necessary to treat a condition are deductible best wordpress hosting, it may follow that these same expenses may be reimbursable through my employers Flexible Spending Account program.
Basically, the Flexible Spending Account is a plan that allows you, the employee, to set up a separate savings account, usually administered by a third party best php hosting. You decide at the beginning of the year how much to contribute to this account. The contributions are deducted from your payroll before tax (meaning you are not charged income tax on the portion of your income you put into the account). As you have out of pocket medical expenses, you file a claim from the Flexible Spending Account administrator for reimbursement of those expenses. Once the account is emptied, no further reimbursements are possible for that year. One caveat with these plans is that they are “use it or lose it,” which means that if you do not have sufficient medical expenses equal to the amount contributed you will forfeit any unclaimed balance. Your human resources department should be able to tell you if your company offers a Flexible Spending Account.