Career Path > Tax Q&A
Taxes for Travelers
traveltax:
--- Quote from: BetaAnt on Jan 30, 2013, 01:32 ---Since medical insurance is mandatory under ObamaCare, is it tax deductible as it has been declared a tax by the SCOTUS? DOE sites pay a taxed Health & Welfare stipend (required by the Service Contract Act) - a taxed benefit. If the insurance requirement exceeds the H&W stipend, is the excess deductible?
Why are state income tax refunds from the previous year considered taxable income yet federal refunds are not?
Why are unemployment benefits taxable but EBT food stamps are not? Or subsidized housing vouchers? Or welfare disbursements?
Just filling in the 1040 blanks and getting depressed. :'(
BA
--- End quote ---
Health insurance premiums are tax deductible in the same way they always have been only they now must exceed 10% of adjusted gross income. For self employeds, its now part of business expenses
State tax refunds are taxable when received in relation to a year in which you itemized. State withholding is a component of itemized deuductions, so a refund is a recovery of that claim on your return. If you did not itemize, you would not have to report it
Unemployment is a substitute for wages. Wages (earned income) is taxable. Welfare is a supplement
owsi84621:
Here's a question for you that I haven't been able to get the answer for. How long must you be unemployed from the same company to not have your per diem taxed. I had a 76 day break with my current company over the new year and now they are threatening to tax my per diem saying that it doesn't matter that I was unemployed for that 76 day period. What are the rules and where do I find them?
traveltax:
--- Quote from: owsi84621 on Aug 21, 2015, 11:39 ---Here's a question for you that I haven't been able to get the answer for. How long must you be unemployed from the same company to not have your per diem taxed. I had a 76 day break with my current company over the new year and now they are threatening to tax my per diem saying that it doesn't matter that I was unemployed for that 76 day period. What are the rules and where do I find them?
--- End quote ---
I think the question you are asking is how long do you have to be away from a metropolitan area to restart the 12 month clock? Were you working in one area and then was laid off and now considering a job at the same place?
If not, what triggered this? Staying with the same employer should not affect this. Its the length of service in one area that should
GLW:
--- Quote from: owsi84621 on Aug 21, 2015, 11:39 ---Here's a question for you that I haven't been able to get the answer for. How long must you be unemployed from the same company to not have your per diem taxed. I had a 76 day break with my current company over the new year and now they are threatening to tax my per diem saying that it doesn't matter that I was unemployed for that 76 day period. What are the rules and where do I find them?
--- End quote ---
I'm not following your timeline very well.
This is August.
76 days of unemployment over the new year is quite awhile ago.
So perhaps you could nail down the details of your employment and unemployment periodicities a bit better to help the SME and others get their heads wrapped around your circumstance.
If the current (or pending) term of employment is known from the beginning to be of greater than one year endurance, your employer may elect to tax per diem now to forego liability later. That circumstance is not uncommon.
owsi84621:
Same employer with 76 days off for good behavior, accepted assignment to a different location, after the new year. Current contract with employer states 8 month contract at this site and the employer is now trying to say that I've been at the same place for a year or more. Because of this I am trying to figure out what signifies a significant break or any break for that matter. I've also wrote to my congressman, asking for clarification through official channels with page, paragraph and verse out of their own tax documents. If I can get the direct answer from their codes it will be a win for all of us. We would then know the rules and be able to cite them.
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