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Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service 2017 Instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040) Itemized Deductions Use Schedule A (Form 1040) to figure your itemized deductions. In most cases, your federal income tax will be less if you take the larger of your itemized deductions or your standard deduction. If you itemize, you can deduct a part of your medical and dental expenses and unre- imbursed employee business expenses, and amounts you paid for certain taxes, inter- est, contributions, and miscellaneous expenses. You can also deduct certain casualty and theft losses. If you and your spouse paid expenses jointly and are filing separate returns for 2017, see Pub. 504 to figure the portion of joint expenses that you can claim as itemiz- ed deductions. Don't include on Schedule A items deducted elsewhere, such as on Form 1040 or Schedule C, C-EZ, E, or F. CAUTION ! Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless otherwise noted. Future Developments. For the latest information about developments related to Schedule A (Form 1040) and its in- structions, such as legislation enacted af- ter they were published, go to IRS.gov/ ScheduleA. What's New Disaster tax relief. Disaster tax relief was enacted for those impacted by cer- tain Presidentially declared disasters. The tax benefits provided by this relief include the following. An increased standard deduction based on your qualified disaster losses. Qualified charitable contributions that aren't subject to the overall limit on itemized deductions or the 50% AGI limit. Qualified disaster losses that aren't subject to the 10% of AGI limit. To see if you were impacted by one of the Presidentially declared disasters eli- gible for this relief or to get more infor- mation about disaster tax relief, see Pub. 976. If you are claiming an in- creased standard deduction, re- port amounts only on line 28 as instructed. See Increased Standard De- duction Reporting, later. CAUTION ! Mortgage insurance premiums. The deduction for mortgage insurance premi- ums has been extended through 2017. You can claim the deduction on Line 13 for amounts that were paid or accrued in 2017. Prepaid 2018 real estate and personal property taxes. If your 2018 state and local real estate or personal property tax- es were assessed and paid in 2017, you may be able to include the prepaid amount on Line 6 or Line 7 of your 2017 Schedule A. See IR-2017-210 at IRS.gov/Newsroom/irs-advisory- prepaid-real-property-taxes-may-be- deductible-in-2017-if-assessed-and- paid-in-2017 for more information. Medical expense deduction. The 7.5% adjusted gross income (AGI) threshold for deducting medical and dental expen- ses has been extended through 2018 for all taxpayers. Limit on itemized deductions. You may not be able to deduct all of your itemized deductions if your adjusted gross income is more than $156,900 if married filing separately; $261,500 if single; $287,650 if head of household; or $313,800 if married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er). See Line 29, later. Standard mileage rates. The standard mileage rate allowed for operating ex- penses for a car when you use it for medical reasons is reduced to 17 cents a mile. The business standard mileage rate is reduced to 53.5 cents a mile. The 2017 rate for use of your vehicle to do volunteer work for certain charitable or- ganizations remains at 14 cents a mile. Medical and Dental Expenses You can deduct only the part of your medical and dental expenses that ex- ceeds 7.5% of the amount of your adjus- ted gross income on Form 1040, line 38. If you received a distribution from a health savings account or a medical savings account in 2017, see Pub. 969 to figure your deduc- tion. Deceased taxpayer. Certain medical expenses paid out of a deceased taxpay- er's estate can be claimed on the de- ceased taxpayer's final return. See Pub. 502 for details. More information. Pub. 502 discusses the types of expenses you can and can- not deduct. It also explains when you can deduct capital expenses and special care expenses for disabled persons. Examples of Medical and Dental Payments You Can Deduct To the extent you weren't reimbursed, you can deduct what you paid for: Insurance premiums for medical and dental care, including premiums for CAUTION ! A-1 Feb 15, 2018 Cat. No. 53061X