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
Thanks Whitney. You’re right about the property tax credit too, that’s another good program for seniors. I took the opportunity of checking our your site: St. Andrew’s Senior Solutions and it’s got a wealth of information for seniors and their caregivers. Not just tax information but healthcare issues, driving and other issues relevant for seniors. Here’s the link to their homepage: http://standrewsseniorsolutions.com/index.html
Great tips! And, remember, The Property Tax Credit Claim is still available this year. This program gives credit to eligible seniors and persons who are considered 100% disabled. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/gPBIUF.