In the finance world, deductible is usually short for tax-deductible, which refers to an expense that reduces the amount of income that is subject to tax.
What is a Deductible?
The amount you pay for covered health care services before your insurance plan starts to pay. With a $2,000 deductible, for example, you pay the first $2,000 of covered services yourself.
After you pay your deductible, you usually pay only a copayment or coinsurance for covered services. Your insurance company pays the rest.
- Many plans pay for certain services, like a checkup or disease management programs, before you’ve met your deductible. Check your plan details.
- All Marketplace health plans pay the full cost of certain preventive benefits even before you meet your deductible.
- Some plans have separate deductibles for certain services, like prescription drugs.
- Family plans often have both an individual deductible, which applies to each person, and a family deductible, which applies to all family members.
Generally, plans with lower monthly premiums have higher deductibles. Plans with higher monthly premiums usually have lower deductibles.
How Does a Deductible Work?
For example, let’s assume John Doe pays $ 10,000 for mortgage interest last year. He and his wife earned ＄150,000 from their jobs last year. Based on their circumstances, they can get a deduction for the mortgage interest (meaning they can deduct it from their taxable income). As a result, they must pay federal income tax on $150,000 – $10,000 = $140,000.
Anything that is deductible has a special financial value. In our example, if that mortgage interest hadn’t been deductible, John Doe would have paid income tax on that $10,000 of income. If he’s in the 28% tax bracket, that could amount to $2,800. Thus, the fact that mortgage interest is deductible saves him $2,800 in taxes.
Why Does a Deductible Matter?
When things are deductible, they lower a person’s tax bill, which is why taxpayers invest time in seeking out deductions and structuring transactions to maximize those deductions. There are hundreds of different types of tax deductions, though some deductions are available only to people in certain income ranges (typically under $100,000 to $150,000) and most are available only to people in certain circumstances or companies in certain industries.
What does it mean when you have a $1000 deductible?
If you have a $1,000 deductible, you will pay $1,000 out of pocket if you have an approved claim covered under collision. For example, if you file a claim for $5,000 worth of repairs, you will pay $1,000 and the insurance company will pay $4,000.
