Taxpayers with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities may qualify for a number of IRS tax credits and benefits. Listed below are seven tax credits and other benefits which are available if you or someone else listed on your federal tax return is disabled.

1. Standard Deduction Taxpayers who are legally blind may be entitled to a higher standard deduction on their tax return.

2. Gross Income Certain disability-related payments, Veterans Administration disability benefits, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are excluded from gross income.

3. Impairment-Related Work Expenses Employees who have a physical or mental disability limiting their employment may be able to claim business expenses in connection with their workplace. The expenses must be necessary for the taxpayer to work.

4. Credit for the Elderly or Disabled This credit is generally available to certain taxpayers who are 65 and older as well as to certain disabled taxpayers who are younger than 65 and are retired on permanent and total disability.

5. Medical Expenses If you itemize your deductions using Form 1040, Schedule A, you may be able to deduct medical expenses. See IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses.

6. Earned Income Tax Credit EITC is available to disabled taxpayers as well as to the parents of a child with a disability. If you retired on disability, taxable benefits you receive under your employer’s disability retirement plan are considered earned income until you reach minimum retirement age. The EITC is a tax credit that not only reduces a taxpayer’s tax liability but may also result in a refund. Many working individuals with a disability who have no qualifying children, but are older than 25 and younger than 65 do — in fact — qualify for EITC. Additionally, if the taxpayer’s child is disabled, the age limitation for the EITC is waived. The EITC has no effect on certain public benefits. Any refund you receive because of the EITC will not be considered income when determining whether you are eligible for benefit programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid.

7. Child or Dependent Care Credit Taxpayers who pay someone to care for their dependent or spouse so they can work or look for work may be entitled to claim this credit. There is no age limit if the taxpayer’s spouse or dependent is unable to care for themselves.

For more information on tax credits and benefits available to disabled taxpayers, see Publication 3966, Living and Working with Disabilities or Publication 907, Tax Highlights for Persons with Disabilities, available on the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Though the vast majority of America’s 2.6 million children with special needs will need costly care long after their parents have passed away, few parents are prepared for that day.  New research sponsored by The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. has found that three in five (62%) parents of children with special needs have no plan to cover the cost of caring for the child when they no longer are able to do so.  And those that do have a plan often make mistakes that may disqualify their child for government services on which they now depend.

Of parents with a plan, only 42% are confident it will cover their child’s lifetime needs. The most common strategy (65%) used to cover the anticipated cost of care was life insurance.  The vast majority of parents (85%) with a child under five have life insurance. But just 46% with a child between the ages of 13-18 have a life insurance policy, despite the fact that a child’s needs may be as great or greater as an adult. Among those with a life insurance policy, 51% do not know that during the child’s lifetime they may access the accumulated cash value in a permanent policy to cover some of the cost of their child’s special needs and 72% of those who are aware they can do this do not take advantage of it.

Even parents with a plan for their child made costly mistakes. Half of all parents of children with special needs plan to leave money directly to their child and even more (58%) name their child as a beneficiary, either of which could possibly disqualify the child for critical government benefits and services.  In addition, only a quarter of the parents have established a special needs trust to provide for supplemental needs and expenses of the child, while not disqualifying the individual from receiving government benefits.  These missteps likely occurred because only 16% of parents with a plan created it with the help of an attorney.

Parents should take these four steps to help ensure their special needs child is protected:

1. Work with a Financial Professional to develop a plan capable of funding a lifetime of support for your special needs child, over and above what the government will provide.

2. Establish a special needs trust to protect the assets and to ensure the child will qualify to receive government benefits and services.

3. Speak with the person you want to be your child’s guardian so they fully understand the commitment and are willing to take on the obligation.

4. Buy a permanent life insurance policy to cover the anticipated cost of care.

Parents often assume they have to amass a big savings account to cover expenses, which can easily amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their child’s lifetime, when individual life insurance can provide a more affordable strategy.

Although the typical Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipient has worked for a fairly long time before the onset of his/her disabling condition, an adult who became disabled before turning 22 can also qualify for SSDI if she/he has a parent who meets certain qualifications.

SSDI is a federal program primarily designed to aid people who have become disabled after having worked for a certain amount of time. Unlike Supplemental Security Income (SSI), SSDI is not a needs-based program, which means that there are no income and asset restrictions. Instead, a beneficiary typically has to have paid into the Social Security system for at least 10 years prior to his disability. An SSDI benefit depends on the beneficiary’s income before he/she became disabled, the size of his/her family, and the amount he/she paid into the Social Security system. Finally, SSDI recipients can receive Medicare two years after qualifying for SSDI.

Most people who have a serious disability before turning 22 are not able to assemble the necessary work record to qualify for SSDI on their own. But people in this situation may instead be able to qualify for SSDI on their parents’ work record, in certain situations.

First, the “adult disabled child” (the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) term for a person with a disability that manifested itself before age 22) must be completely disabled according to the SSA’s adult disability standards. Second, the disability must have occurred before the potential beneficiary turned 22. Third, the potential beneficiary’s parent must have paid into the Social Security system for the required number of quarters. Finally, and most importantly, the potential beneficiary’s parent must be either dead, permanently disabled, or receiving Social Security retirement benefits.

If an adult disabled child and her parent meets all of these qualifications, then the “child” should be able to receive a substantial benefit, often greater than an SSI award. On top of the monetary gain, the child does not have to worry about her/his own unearned income or assets, since SSDI does not take these into account. However, if a child earns enough income through employment, the SSA may determine that she is no longer disabled and cancel her SSDI benefits. The parent’s own retirement benefits are not affected by their child’s receipt of SSDI, and the child can still qualify for SSI benefits if her SSDI payments, which count as unearned income for SSI purposes, do not disqualify her/him.

Parents who have not begun to receive their own Social Security income but who think that their child may qualify for SSDI in the future may want to have their child screened by the Social Security system for his disability before he reaches age 22. If this is not possible, it pays to have the child’s physician clearly document all of the information surrounding the child’s disability from as early an age as possible. This way, when the parent does retire, the child has a long record showing the presence of the disabling condition before he/she turned 22, making the SSDI application easier.

Attorney Sheri Abrams can explain the rules for applying for SSDI and can give your family guidance if you think your child may qualify in the future.