The Little Known Tax Deduction Most U.S. Wedding Pros Never Use

Have you thought about your taxes lately? How about your retirement savings?

I know, you’re young. You don’t need to worry about that yet.

Uh, yeah, you do.

You need to regularly put some money away for your retirement. It might be difficult, especially in the off-season months, but it has to be done. Not only does it make it easier to accumulate a significant amount when you start younger, but it also just makes good business sense. Don’t wait for your accountant to give you a gentle push to get this going.

The Health Savings Account

A Health Savings Account (HSA) allows you to put away money for your health care expenses tax-free, and anything you don’t spend can be rolled into your retirement savings.

Most wedding professionals have never even heard of it. Hell, even our accountant had to look it up when we asked him about it!

To qualify for a HSA, you must meet the following criteria:

• Be a US citizen.
• Have a high-deductible healthcare plan.
• Not enrolled in Medicare.

If you meet these qualifications, you owe it to yourself to investigate a health savings account.

Not only is a HSA a great way to offset that deductible, but it offers a nice tax write off. The funds in your account grow tax-free, and you don’t pay taxes when you use those funds to pay qualified medical expenses. It’s a great way to put some tax-deferred money away.

If you have a high-deductible healthcare plan that doesn’t cover some of your additional medical expenses, an HSA is a no brainer. Tax-deductible chiropractic or massage, anyone?

HSA to the Rescue

Fortunately, we started one last year and we needed it when some unexpected medical issues came up. We’d recently switched to a high deductible plan because I never go to the doctor–or so I thought.

Things didn’t quite go as planned and I had some expensive tests. The good news is I’m fine. The bad news was it cost thousands to tell me this!

Needless to say, the thousands we had put into our HSA are now gone, but at least we didn’t have to hit the credit cards to pay the bills.

No one counts on getting sick, but at some point we all do. If you aren’t taking advantage of an HSA you are definitely missing the boat.

Learn more about the benefits of starting an HSA and visit the U.S. government site to learn more about how to qualify.