Read about NNJLS's response to COVID-19, the Earned Income Tax Credit, a positive-outcome client story, and more. 

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

It's Tax Season:

Earned Income Tax Credit

The Earned Income Tax Credit is a benefit for working people with low to moderate income.

Authored by Aggie Papis, Esq. - Director, NNJLS Low Income Taxpayer Clinic

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has become one of the government’s largest cash assistance programs for low-income families. It is a federally funded anti-poverty initiative that reduces taxes and provides refundable credits to low-income workers. In 2018, the EITC lifted about 5.6 million people out of poverty, including about 3 million children. Its primary purpose is to help low-wage earners achieve financial self-sufficiency and make work more attractive than welfare.

The amount of the benefit depends on the recipient's income, filing status and number of children. For the 2019 tax year, the maximum amount of the EITC for a tax filer with children is $6,660. Working families with children that have annual incomes below about $41,100 to $56,000 (depending on marital status and the number of dependent children) may be eligible for the federal EITC. Also, working-poor people who have no children and have incomes below $15,570 ($21,370 for a married couple) can receive a small EITC.

More tax information and resources (click on below links):

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tax Relief

Qualifying for the Earned Income Tax Credit

Credits and Deductions for Individuals

Free Tax Return Preparation for Qualifying Taxpayers

NJ 211 Free Tax Assistance Locations

United Way of Hudson/AARP Foundation Tax-Aide

United Way of Passaic County Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

A Story of Help and Hope

The NNJLS Elder Justice Project recently represented a senior who fell prey to a timeshare scam.  Before the senior obtained NNJLS's help, the timeshare company required the senior to execute a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure contemporaneously with the conveyance of the timeshare.  The senior obtained the timeshare just one month prior to applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI).  When the senior did apply for SSI, the senior forgot to mention the timeshare.  Two years later, the Social Security Administration (SSA) learned about the timeshare at the senior's redetermination hearing; the senior was found to be over the resource limit for a married couple. The SSA considered this an asset worth $12,000; the threshold limit of what’s permissible for a couple is $3,000.  As a result, SSA found the senior was overpaid benefits totaling $6,764.23 and terminated benefits.  Sadly, this meant the senior lost SSI and SSI-Medicaid coverage.  Losing Medicaid was devastating for the senior because the senior suffers from kidney disease and couldn’t afford prescription copays on Medicare alone.

When the senior came to us, the senior still owned the timeshare.  For strategic reasons in order to regain SSI, the Elder Justice Project staff attorney helped remove the senior from the scam by “selling” the timeshare back to the company for $1.  NNJLS then filed an appeal in the SSI termination case, represented the senior at the hearing, and eventually received a fully favorable decision.  The SSA Administrative Law Judge was so persuaded by NNJLS's arguments that the judge copied all the reasons the staff attorney gave at the hearing for finding NNJLS's client was a victim of a sham transaction and thus void from the beginning.  Therefore, the senior was not at fault for the overpayment under SSA regulations.  

The senior's benefits will be reinstated and the debt of $6,764.23 is waived.

New Jersey Makes it Easier for People Experiencing Poverty to Obtain Copies of Their Medical Records