That Pesky Tax Waiver – Part 1
As I have written in previous posts, New Jersey did away with its estate tax in 2018. This was part of a compromise between the state legislature and then Governor Christie who agreed to an increase in New Jersey’s gasoline tax. I have also pointed out that we still have an inheritance tax in New Jersey, although the number of estates that must pay inheritance tax is very small. That’s because most decedents leave their assets to spouses, children and grandchildren who are exempt from inheritance tax. Yet, we are finding that there are a number of estates where we must file an inheritance tax return even though no inheritance tax is owed. That might seem strange. The reason, however, is New Jersey’s tax waiver system. I last wrote about the tax waiver in 2016 (see 10/10/16 post). New Jersey places a lien by law on New Jersey assets until the state issues a waiver releasing that lien. It is designed to insure that the inheritance tax is paid. Once the State is satisfied, it issues this document called a tax waiver. Financial institutions and buyers of real estate then know that the tax has been paid and the
Is There Any Government Benefit Program I Am Not Aware Of? (Part 2)
In last week’s post I related a common question about government benefits – “is there something out there in the way of benefits that we could get that we’re just not aware of”? Most recently, a son, whose dad is in a nursing home already receiving Medicaid benefits, asked me this question. His dad is a Korean War veteran and he said someone told him he could get approximately $1800 a month in benefits, a reference to the VA Aid and Attendance benefit. Many government benefits do not work well together. VA Aid and Attendance and Medicaid are a good example. The Aid and Attendance benefit is received in the form of a pension. I certainly understand the thought process. Maybe dad can get the pension money coming in which could help pay for other things he might need. The first problem is that the VA won’t pay the pension when it knows Dad is already receiving Medicaid. If he was already receiving the VA benefit before applying for Medicaid, it would drop the pension down to $90 a month. “But what about any other benefit that maybe I am not aware of,” the son asked me. When I
Is There Any Government Benefits I am Not Aware of? Part 1
In this week’s post I want to talk about a common question I get about government benefits. “Is there any benefit my family member can get that I am not aware of?” In other words, “am I missing anything”? I can certainly understand the reason for the questions, however, it really is looking at things from the wrong direction. Here’s what I mean. When you are trying to manage the care of a loved one and pay for it all, the first question is, “what does that person need”? Once I know that, I can then look to see what benefits might be available that would match the need. Th analysis is going to be focused on what the person needs in the way of care or treatment. Recently I had someone ask me whether his dad was entitled to any benefits because he is a disabled Veteran. Dad is in a nursing home and on Medicaid. “What about the VA Aid and Attendance benefit”, he asked me. “I heard Dad can get $1800 a month as a Korean war veteran, which could give him some additional income.” When I asked the
Getting and Then Keeping Medicaid- Part 3
This week’s post is the last of 3 on the danger of losing Medicaid after having been approved. In both of our cases the Qualified Income Trust was the cause and each time it happened during the annual redetermination process. As I explained last week the QIT rules are very specific and must be strictly adhered to. Income must pass into and out of the trust bank account each and every month. In both of our cases, in the last month before redetermination it appeared from a review of the bank statement that this didn’t happen. In one case the income remaining in the account was $3400. Medicaid imposed a penalty of 10 days, with approval of benefits beginning again on the 11th day for another year. In the other case, the income remaining in the trust bank account was $4800 so the penalty was 14 days. In the first case the penalty could not be avoided but in the second it was. So what was the difference? In the first instance the trustee told me he just forgot to write a check to the nursing home before the end of the month so he made a “double”
Getting Medicaid and then Keeping it (Part 2)
In my post last week, I started to tell you about the dangers of losing Medicaid benefits after qualifying for them. That’s because you cannot put things on “autopilot”. One reason is that getting a Medicaid approval only lasts for one year. The State requires recipients to go through an annual redetermination process. While these renewals – or redeterminations – are much less intensive than the original application process, they are an importunity for the State to “take another look”. In recent months I have seen two cases in which clients we obtained Medicaid benefits for lost some of those benefits. In each case the problem stemmed from the use of a Qualified Income Trust (QIT), also commonly referred to as a Miller Trust. QITs are necessary when an applicant’s gross monthly income exceeds Medicaid’s strict income cap ($2313 in 2019). If you are over the income limit then you cannot qualify for Medicaid. That income, typically resulting from Social Security and pension, cannot be reduced and you cannot call up the Social Security Administration or the pension custodian and tell it to reduce your monthly benefit. The only way to achieve Medicaid eligibility is to set up and
Getting and Keeping Medicaid – Part 1
In this week’s post I focus back on Medicaid. As I often tell people, every year it seems that securing Medicaid approvalsis increasingly difficult. There are more ways to be tripped up by the complex and often confusing rules and regulations. Many of the problems stem from keeping Medicaid eligibility after it has been achieved. For example, in order to be eligible for Medicaid in a single applicant case, assets must be spent down to less than $2000 by the last day of the month directly preceding the month the applicant is requesting as the start date for Medicaid, but that only insures Medicaid for one month. In order to be eligible each and every month thereafter, the applicant must remain under $2000 by the end of every month moving forward. In other words, if we want Medicaid to begin 4/1 we must be spent down under $2000 by the end of the day on 3/31, however, if on 4/30 the balance goes over $2000 then the applicant will be ineligible for May. In that case all that is achieved is one month of eligibility which is then lost the next month. Despite repeating this point early and often,