Multiple sclerosis support - ROSE-about taxes!

Author

ROSE-about taxes!

silvervz

2005-03-29, 7:15 pm

[vbcol=seagreen]
Rose, I think the info you are looking for can be found at:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf
This is Pub 17 for individual's income tax and on p.#89 it explains how
to handle your SSDI when doing your year end taxes. It also can answer
most questions people might have.

BTW.....(scroll down further)
[vbcol=seagreen]
No...that's not totally true. 1st let me explain my qualifications. I have
been a working "licensed" tax preparer for the last 20 yrs. In order to
maintain my license I must take a 20 hr course *every year* and pass a
test with 70% (my average over the last 20 yrs is 97%). So, I'm really
not misleading you.

Anyway, when they refer to "household income", they mean any interest,
dividends, unemployment benefits, pensions, rental property income, stock
sales and the like of you, your husband *and* any children under the age
of 14. Children between the ages of 14 & 18 can choose whether their
income is to be included on their parent's return or not. If you include
their income then it is taxed at the parent's tax bracket so it's better
they
file their own return. If the child is 18 or older, they must file on
their own.

However, just because they file their own return *does not* mean they
can claim an exemption for themselves automatically. "If" they are a full
time student and you pay over 50% of their living expenses (shelter, food,
clothing, transportation, medical and educational expenses combined),
then you can claim an exemption for them and they must file as a student
being claimed on another's return and only claim the standard deduction.

BTW, just email me if you have any questions or if I can be of any
further help.

Silver
[vbcol=seagreen]
Boy, you're right there about Calif. prices. I live in the San Francisco Bay
Area (San Jose, to be exact) and the SF Bay Area, according to polls, has
the highest priced real estate "in the nation". I don't know how young
people can afford to buy and live here.
[vbcol=seagreen]

rose

2005-03-29, 7:15 pm

silvervz wrote:
> Rose, I think the info you are looking for can be found at:
> http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf
> This is Pub 17 for individual's income tax and on p.#89 it explains
how
> to handle your SSDI when doing your year end taxes. It also can
answer
> most questions people might have.

hi again silver, thanks! it looks like the same thing we've been doing
-- soc-sec sends a form, i enter the numbers, they tell me how much of
my benefits are taxable, etc.

i was interested in the next year's changes, and whether the tax cuts
will actually help US -- not that i don't care if it helps anyone else,
but understandably, we're most interested in what we're going to be
paying. ;->

> Anyway, when they refer to "household income", they mean any
interest,
> dividends, unemployment benefits, pensions, rental property income,
stock
> sales and the like of you, your husband *and* any children under the
age
> of 14. Children between the ages of 14 & 18 can choose whether their
> income is to be included on their parent's return or not. If you
include
> their income then it is taxed at the parent's tax bracket so it's
better
> they
> file their own return. If the child is 18 or older, they must file on

> their own.

thanks for the clarification. i've been so all-over-the-map lately,
that i mixed a bunch of stuff up together and got my own badself
confused. i was thinking of the 'household income' that you need to
report to qualify for other kinds of assistance and mixing it up with
household income for tax purposes...ie, when applying for a financial
break on expensive M.S. meds, they've always defined 'household income'
as that earned by anyone over the age of 18 living in the same house
and related by blood or marriage...so they've counted my disability,
dennis's income, and tamara's income as well.

she graduated college last year, and she's filing her own return, but
i'm helping, since i have mucho experience with self-employment income,
and she has SE as well as earned income from a regular job, this is
really the part that i'm still confident about, just because i've been
doing self-employment taxes for so many years -- even before my M.S.
dx.

as for the rest, we eventually got it straightened out! a few things
i'd never dealt with, like the pension roll-over and being in a higher
tax bracket, just added to my confusion and freaked me out, but we
finished the 'me and dennis' returns, and will be doing tam's next.

> However, just because they file their own return *does not* mean they
> can claim an exemption for themselves automatically. "If" they are a
full
> time student and you pay over 50% of their living expenses (shelter,
food,
> clothing, transportation, medical and educational expenses combined),
> then you can claim an exemption for them and they must file as a
student
> being claimed on another's return and only claim the standard
deduction.

yup, we did it that way previously, when she was a FT student. she's
now graduated, and who cares about the impact on the taxes -- i'm SO
proud! :-> she had academic=based scholarships all the way through,
worked her butt off, and is now working for a medical research firm. i
have a middle school education, and dennis never finished high school,
so she's actually been the most 'edu-ma-cated' person in the house
since the day she first walked in the college doors, got her diploma in
the mail, june 1 she gets to tshake the dean's hand and turn her
tassle. i couldn't be more excited if it was me graduating! (just a
diversion by a proud mom, sorry.) ;->

> Boy, you're right there about Calif. prices. I live in the San
Francisco Bay
> Area (San Jose, to be exact) and the SF Bay Area, according to polls,
has
> the highest priced real estate "in the nation". I don't know how
young
> people can afford to buy and live here.

i don't think most young people CAN afford to buy and live here. i saw
a study on the news, they said san diego county had replaced L.A.
County as the 2nd highest R.E. prices in teh nation -- i guess the bay
area remains at #1.

a lot of the younger people tam works with -- and these are college
educated young people working for a successful company in the
bio-medical field -- either live in SROs downtown, have 2 or 3
roommates, there are even a couple of them who actually live in tijuana
and commute across the border -- i mean U.S. citizens, not just mexican
citizens with work visas.

one of my neices got into a program for low-income first-time
homebuyers, and she and her husband and their baby son are purchasing a
very nice condo in a decent neighborhood, using the program. that's
probably the best way to become an owner -- find a program, buy a
condo, build up equity, move onward and upward.

you've still gotta pay for every OTHER ridiculously-priced thing in the
golden state, of course! i really hope we don't end up getting priced
right out of the state, because i love it here and would never want to
leave, but economics ight be the deciding factor. we're ok at the
moment, we'll seee what the future may bring. ;->

thaks so much for all your help and advice!
rose