Stimulus eligibility and Food Stamps

" snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMPUHLEEZschnapp.org" wrote.

That's news to me. Did you look to see what it says on the IRS website?

I'd prepare and file their return in any event.

" snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMPUHLEEZschnapp.org"

SSI is also the acronym for "Supplemental Security Income." It so happens that Supplemental Security Income does not count as qualifying income for purposes of the stimulus tax rebate. I wonder if the confusion is arising because Supplemental Security Income is administered via the Social Security Administration, and many web sites talk about how Social Security benefits count as qualifying income. But not SSI; one has to read the fine print.

Food stamps have nothing to do with it, at least not directly. Record the SSA-1099 amount per the instructions at the IRS web site to get the stimulus rebate, assuming they have at least $3k of SSA-1099 social security income. See

Whatever the source of the above misinformation, the elderly food stamp recipients may have been intimidated into thinking that they risk losing their public assistance benefits if they file for the stimulus payment. Section 101(d) of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 says the stimulus payments do not affect eligibility for public assistance benefits.

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(d) Refunds Disregarded in the Administration of Federal Programs and Federally Assisted Programs- Any credit or refund allowed or made to any individual by reason of section 6428 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as amended by this section) or by reason of subsection (c) of this section shall not be taken into account as income and shall not be taken into account as resources for the month of receipt and the following 2 months, for purposes of determining the eligibility of such individual or any other individual for benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of benefits or assistance, under any Federal program or under any State or local program financed in whole or in part with Federal funds.

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Condor

I encountered an almost identical situation, except it was the wife who was blind. Do you have to wait for an official 1099-SSA? If you call the 1-800 number for SSA and plow through the voice prompts to get to a real operator, they can provide the 2007 reported amount over the phone.

Alternately, if you can see the monthly direct deposit amounts from bank statements, and distinguish between the SSI and the regular SS benefits (in my case, it was easy to see which was which), that would be adequate for the tax return as long as it is at least $3K.

The IRS instructions to which Elle provided a link (k1040a3.pdf) specifically state you can estimate the amount from monthly payments plus anything withheld for Medicare).

-Mark Bole

Ah, thanks for that. I assumed I would need the SSA-1099 to get all the numbers I need: box 5 = total net benefits; box 6 = Fed tax w/h (almost certainly 0); Medicare B premiums deducted Medicare D premiums deducted

If they can't find the forms in the next couple of days, I'll go this route.

Happily, it was pointed out to me that submitting a return by 4/15 is not required to get in line for the rebate. Since they don't need to file for any reason OTHER than the tax rebate they can take a reasonable amount of time to file. Delaying filing will only delay their check.

And I'll bet that there are a lot of folks in their community (an elderly housing apartment in NYC) that will suddenly need help filing when they learn they've been given bad advice.

I missed that. Boy, the gummint sure is being generous handing out that candy! 8-)

Based on earlier posts in this group and what I recall reading from the IRS, even if they do not file by Oct 15 2008 in order to get the rebate by the end of this year, they can still claim it as a refundable credit for 2008 (filed in 2009).

-Mark Bole