Posted on January 16, 2011December 3, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Missouri Tax Credit for Self-Employed Health Insurance

MO self-employed health insurance tax credit

One of the really fun parts of my job is finding cool tax deductions or tax credits that most people don’t know about that can really benefit people. Here’s a cool one: The Missouri Self-Employed Health Insurance Tax Credit.

The thing about Missouri Tax Credits is that most of them won’t just pop up on your computer software. You have to actually know about them and specifically request the forms to come up. Major things, like the Missouri Property Tax Credit will usually have a pop-up reminding you to apply for it if you meet the criteria, but most other tax credits just hide in the corner. The Self-Employed Health Insurance Tax Credit is one of the sneaky, hide in the corner credits.

How sneaky is it? To tell you the truth, I called the Missouri Department of Revenue to ask a few questions and the person on the other end of the phone had never even heard of it. She had to go hunt down someone who knew about the Self-Employed Health Insurance tax credit before she could answer my question. I’ve never had that happen before. The Missouri Department of Revenue front line folks are pretty knowledgeable and quick with answers. While I tend to stump the IRS on a regular basis (I think if they had caller ID they’d never answer my phone calls,) I’ve never stumped a Missouri DOR employee before.

Here’s how it works: Let’s say you own your own company and you also pay for your own health insurance. Normally, on your federal tax return, you can claim a deduction for your health insurance up to the amount of your business profit. But what if your business didn’t have a profit? Or if your business profit was less than what you paid for your health insurance? That’s where the Missouri Self-Employed Health Insurance Tax Credit kicks in. Whatever tax savings you lost on your federal income tax return because you couldn’t claim your self-employed health insurance will become a tax credit to you in Missouri.

I know that sounds pretty confusing so here’s an example: Let’s say your federal taxable income on your 1040 was $100,000 (I like to use round numbers.) But you couldn’t claim your self-employed health insurance because your business actually had a loss (we’ll assume the $100,000 is from your spouse’s wages and other income.) Your health insurance cost you $6,000 for the year. If you could have claimed that as a deduction, it would have saved you $1,500 on your federal tax return. With the Missouri Self-Employed Health Insurance Tax Credit, you get to take that $1,500 as a credit against your Missouri state income tax liability. How cool is that?

Now that was a pretty drastic example, but even so, claiming a dollar for dollar tax credit against what you missed out on from your federal income tax return is a great deal. Here’s a link to take a look at the form:

Missouri Self-Employed Health Insurance Tax Credit

So you want to know the best part? Many of the Missouri tax credits have limitations that, if missed, you don’t get a second chance to claim them. But with the Self-Employed Health Insurance Tax Credit, if you happened to miss out on claiming this credit last year, you can go back and amend your prior Missouri tax return and still get the refund.

Posted on December 16, 2010May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Another Missouri Tax Credit: The Center for Head Injury Services

Updated May 21, 2016

I realize that I plug the Missouri Tax credits quite a bit, but when you’re choosing a charity, they really give you the best bang for your buck. You don’t just get a federal income tax deduction, you also get a 50% tax credit to offset your Missouri state income tax liability. The other thing that I really like about the Missouri Tax Credits is that the money you donate to these charities is staying right here in Missouri, helping our friends and neighbors. It’s a win/win/win situation.

Today I’m going to talk about the Center for Head Injury Services. The Center serves over 800 people each year who have head injuries or other cognitive disabilities. Their programs include employment assessment, job placement and day services.

The Missouri tax credits available fall under the categories of Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) tax credits and Youth Opportunity Tax Credits (YOP). It’s available to businesses or individuals who contribute $500 or more to the organization.

Charities that qualify for Missouri Tax Credits have already been pre-screened by the state and meet pretty strict requirements about how they spend your money. The idea behind these grants is that a well run non-profit organization can provide these valuable services better than the state can.

So why is the Center for Head Injury Services so important? Many reasons. Did you realize that over 2 million people suffer from brain injuries every year? And what most people don’t realize is that brain injuries can cause permanent limitations and chronic health conditions that require long term support. Brain injuries aren’t like a disease that can be cured. The Center for Head Injury Services is a comprehensive resource to all types of head injury victims and their families.

They provide adult day care and therapy for persons with severe injuries and vocational and employment services to persons with less severe injuries. They also provide counseling to families having trouble adjusting to disability issues. They serve people with all types of head injuries whether its from a car accident, a stroke or an aneurysm. Bottom line: they do good work.

Even if you’re unable to qualify for a Missouri Tax credit, a donation to the Center for Head Injury would be money well spent.

One final thing, the Center for Head Injury Services has an equipment loan program. If you have equipment that you are no longer using, they could use crutches, walkers, canes, wheel chairs, bath & shower chairs and benches, commodes, and other types of rehabilitative equipment. Donating these items doesn’t qualify for the Missouri Tax Credit, but it would certainly be a good use of these items. You also might be able to qualify for a deduction on your federal return for “non-cash” contributions.

To learn more about the Center for Head Injury Services, click here: https://www.headinjuryctr-stl.org/

Posted on December 15, 2010May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Last Minute Tax Tip: MO Tax Credit–Almost Home

Photo from the Almost Home website

Here’s another charity that you might want to take a look at, it’s called Almost Home. Almost home serves teen mothers and their children with up to two years of housing, counseling, education and other support services. Since they opened back in 1993, Almost Home has served over 1,500 mothers and their children.

Almost Home currently has Missouri tax credits available to individuals and corporations for donations of between $100 and $100,000. Many of the tax credit programs don’t even start until you make a donation of $1,000 or more, so this is a good program for persons with a smaller charitable donation budget. As usual with Missouri tax credit programs, the credits are good for a 50% credit against your Missouri state income tax liability. This tax credit is in addition to the usual deductions that you get to claim for charitable contributions on your federal and state income tax return.

For a donation to Almost Home to count towards the Missouri Tax Credit, the donation must be in cash, stocks, bonds, securities or real property. If you can’t make that type of contribution but would still like to help Almost Home, they have a wonderful wish list on their web site. Donations of clothing, toys or supplies won’t qualify for the Missouri tax credits, but would be most graciously and gratefully accepted by the organization.

Almost home qualifies for Missouri Tax Credits under the Missouri Maternity Home Tax Credit program which is admistered by the Department of Social Services.

For more information about Almost Home and the tax credit program, please click on the link to their website: http://www.almosthomestl.org/donate/tax-credits

For information on the Missouri Maternity Tax Credit program, click on the Missouri website: http://www.dss.mo.gov/dfas/taxcredit/maternity.htm

Almost Home was established by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary. Their primary areas of concern are establishing and achieving personal goals related to health care, emotional stability and education; teaching appropriate parenting skills; and empowering members for independent living.

Posted on December 8, 2010May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Last Minute Tax Tip: Caring for the Elderly?

Photo by Maufdi

Are you caring for a spouse or a parent who is over 60 years of age and physically and/or mentally incapable of living alone? If you live in Missouri, there may be a tax credit for you. It’s called the Missouri Shared Care Tax Credit and it could be worth up to $500 off of your Missouri state income taxes.

In order to qualify for this tax credit, you must live in the same residence as the person you’re caring for for more than 6 months during the tax year and you must not get paid for providing care.

The person you’re caring for must not receive funding or services through Medicaid or social services block grant funding. (Medicare is fine, it’s just Medicaid that’s not allowed.)

To qualify for a tax credit, you will need to have your physician, or the Division of Senior and Disability Services, Missouri Department of Health, sign a certification form that says the person you care for is incapable of living alone and must acquire necessary home care to avoid placement in a care facility. That’s why I’m putting this in the “to do in December” list–getting the certification part may take some time.

When you think about the stress and the cost of caring for someone at home, this doesn’t really seem like much of a tax credit. On the other hand, there are already so many people already caring for an elderly spouse or parent at home and not getting anything for it, I wanted to make sure that I got this message out. By the way, if you’ve been caring for someone for a few years, you can go back and amend old state returns to claim this credit. You can go back up to three years.

To learn more that the Shared Care Tax Credit, click on this link to the Missouri Department of Revenue website: http://dor.mo.gov/taxcredit/sct.php