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Tax Tips for Special Needs Families: Tips for Next Year

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I know how stressful tax time can be, and I know there are quite a few families out there who believe they’ll never get it filed on time. Here are some suggestions to consider to help you become more prepared for next year.

What if you owe?

If you owe, work with your tax professional (if possible)

  • Be as accurate as you can when calculating your tax liability.
  • Pay your tax on or before April 15.
  • If your tax return is not complete, submit an extension to file, IRS Form 4868.
  • The extension to file is not an extension of payment, so pay on time!

What if you can’t pay the total tax due?

Contact the IRS immediately at 800-829-1040 to discuss options

  • Ask about the “Fresh Start Initative”.
  • The initative may be an installment payment agreement or an offer in compromise.
  • Do not wait! Please do something on or before April 15.

What you need to do after April 15 as a special needs family

Special needs families do not have the luxury of preparing for taxes from January 1 through April 15; tax season is all year. You need to know if any current and future expenses are possible income tax deductions. Organization of your receipts and statements are key.

You may discover that your income tax threshold is not enough to obtain a tax deduction. Look into other ways to recoup your expenses, such as Health Savings Accounts, Flexible Spending Accounts, a health insurance reimbursement, or some other arrangement.

Don’t know if a medical expense is a legitimate tax deduction? You can find that out by visiting irs.gov and searching for Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses. My book and free webinars also discuss what is and is not a medical expense tax deduction.

Find an organizational method that suits your personality. If you file your documents in a cabinet or use apps, do whatever is most comfortable.

The best way to get through tax season is to prepare year round. Learn from your mistakes this year and resolve to become a prepared, organized, and empowered special needs family.

Yolanda Baker is an Austin-based accountant and the author of BITE Your Bills: Cutting Medical Expenses for the Disabled. She provides webinars and assistance with health insurance issues, medical expense tax deductions and assisting those with high health care costs.

Please note that the information Ms. Baker provides is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not to be considered financial or medical advice. Please consult with a financial or medical professional for clarification.

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Have a Holly Jolly Holiday With These Resources!

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I love the Holidays!

This year my boss, that would be me, has given me from Thanksgiving to New Year’s off. Yay! Time to savor the holidays. I’ll be working on my Family History Project and planning some big projects for next year.

And I’ll be sleeping in.

And eating really unhealthy food. Can you say Chocolate?!?

And watching my favorite holiday movies like Holiday Inn and The Santa Claus trilogy.

I can’t wait!

But before I go, I want to share some articles I found that will help you and your Special Needs Family have a Holly Jolly, Safe and Sane Holiday!

Connie Hammer, Parent Coach for Autism offers tips to make your holiday shopping less stressful and more fun.

The Holidays are all about sensations. Connie coaches us on how to help our Sensory Sensitive Kids survive.

Terri Mauro at About.com’s Children with Special Needs, shares some practical advice to handle some not-so-practical celebration situations.

Excellent survival guide posted on Facebook gives suggestions for handling everything from travel to photos.

Love tip #6 – Color coding presents. Great idea for all kids!

You can’t take care of your child if you haven’t taken care of yourself. Terri shares a wonderfully comprehensive list of articles to help you get Jolly instead of Grinchy!

Traveling with your Special Needs Child this Holiday Season? BabyCenter has compiled some great resources to help you out not just during the holidays but anytime you hit the road.

One Place for Special Needs shares some excellent ideas to help everyone have fun and stay sane.

Our lives with Special Needs Loved Ones can be extremely stressful and sometimes sad and often scary. We hope these resources will help make life a bit easier and the Holidays a bit more enjoyable.

Enjoy some special times with all of your Loved Ones this Holiday Season. And we’ll see you next year!

Sandra
and Matthew and Elisabeth, too!
Elisabeth and Matthew on her 21st Bday

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Power of the Internet Can Bring Special Needs Families and Service Providers Together

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Several years ago as I was embarking on my journey as a Virtual Assistant for Internet Marketers, Matthew was working with a Behavioral Therapist on social skills.

I remember a conversation with the therapist when she lamented that her client load was being reduced due to budget cuts but that even when she carried a full client load there were only so many clients she could see in a day. She wanted to be able to help more Special Needs Kids.

When the sessions first started, Matthew’s therapist said that she had several basic programs that she used as foundations and then adapted as needed. She worked with Matthew, and with me so that I could continue working with Matthew every day. I had a binder of information to refer to later but it was often difficult to remember just how we had used the techniques during sessions.

At the time I was taking courses on video marketing and creating online learning environments. I thought it would be a great idea to create video tutorials. They would be a great way to reinforce what we covered in therapy but even more important, families who couldn’t get approval for therapy could buy her programs and and use them at home with their special-needs children.

Back then online learning environments were extremely new and it was difficult to explain the potential opportunity. As I’ve worked more in these areas it’s become clear to me that having video tutorials and demonstrations that parents can use to work with their child would be a definite benefit for those who either can’t get funding or want to supplement the programs that their children are receiving.

I have spoken with many service providers who are very excited about the possibility of being able to share their expertise and assistance to families via the Internet using online learning environments. One of my goals here at Our Special Families Village is to bring these programs to families. The challenge has been that many of the service providers who are interested in doing this aren’t yet sure about the how’s.

So I am merging my expertise in Internet Marketing with my passion for helping Special Needs Families. If you are Special Needs Service Provider and are interesting in learning how to help more People with Special Needs using Internet Technologies I invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn and join my group, Online Marketing for Special Needs Service Providers.

If you have a family member with Special Needs and think that information and tutorials in an online learning environment would be helpful to you please let me know. And let me know what kinds of help you’re looking for.

I look forward to hearing from you either in the comments to this post or you can email me through the contact page.

Thanks!

Sandra

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A PTA for Special Education? Hmmm…

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A few weeks ago I did an interview with Peggy Bud, a special education consultant. A couple of things really struck me in the interview.

First, and this is not a new revelation, there is a disconnect between the reality of the law and the reality of available resources.

The other thing was Peggy’s suggestion of forming a Special Education PTA. Matthew is 19 now and we only have two more IEP’s left in our special education journey. Looking back, it’s one of those ideas that sound so simple that you wonder why every school district doesn’t have one.

Think about it

  • A place to come together to support and be supported by other families who get what you’re going through
  • A place to come together to ask questions and get information in an open and cooperative environment; where you can ask questions, anonymously if necessary
  • A place where you can work collaboratively with administrators and other professionals to inform and educate Special Needs parents on the resources available and how to get them
  • A place where those who came before you can give you a hand up
  • A place where you can give a hand up to those coming behind you

We have usually enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Matthew’s IEP team but there were times when I felt like maybe there was information I was missing. Often when we asked questions about policies, procedures and law, we were guided to research resources. Instead of just getting a straightforward answer, I felt like I was researching for a doctoral thesis and having to sort through unfamiliar terms and legalese. I wonder if there were more services that could have been made available for Matthew but I wasn’t asking the right questions in the right way. Having a forum with other parents who may be able to help fill in the gaps, help find the best terminology to form the right questions, share resources that they had come across and then together work with administrators to educate parents would have been, as the commercial says – priceless.

A Special Ed PTA could take a lot of the stress off of parents of trying to figure everything out for themselves. It could be a truly wonderful solution for parents, educators and for our children.

So if you’re thinking that this sounds great but you don’t have one in your area, I strongly encourage you to consider banding together with other Special Needs Parents and forming your own. I did a little bit of research and here are some resources that I found:

Many Special Ed PTAs have Facebook pages; check them out for ideas, too.

If you do form your own, please let me know how it goes and if there is anything else I can do to help.

~Sandra

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The Flip Side of Inclusion

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NSBC Track Team at 2012 SOSC State Games

Some very Special Olympians – and me.

Awareness.

Acceptance.

Inclusion.

These are terms we hear every day in the Special Needs Community.

There are blogs, books, videos, and movies, all preaching and pleading for inclusion of our Special Needs Loved Ones in the community at large.

But what about the other side of that coin? What about including those who don’t have Special Needs in the Special Needs Community?

I talk about Special Olympics here a lot. My son Matthew has a lot of fun at Special Olympics, he gets great exercise, he makes new friends, and he learns social skills. Special Olympics has been very good for him.

As a coach I have had an opportunity to get to know a lot of people with Special Needs. As you might expect, they want what everyone else wants. They want to be happy.

And happiness is sometimes hanging out with friends, cheering each other on and being recognized for their accomplishments.

Special Olympics makes them happy.

But what about those of us who volunteer? I can’t tell you how many times I have been thanked for volunteering my time, energy and effort to Special Olympics. That’s nice and I appreciate it very much.

Here’s the truth…

I’m the lucky one. I’m the one who is included.

And this kind of inclusion is truly special.

Special Olympics is an opportunity for those with Special Needs to invite us into their world.

And if you are willing to accept that invitation; that incredible gift, you will be transformed.

Every time I go to a Special Olympics practice or an event, or even just put together a video like the one below, I am transformed.

I am encouraged, I am inspired, I feel hope, I feel love, and I feel genuine and sincere inclusion. I am gifted inclusion into their world. Because it is indeed their world.

So for all the talk of awareness, acceptance and inclusion of People with Special Needs into the general community, the truth is that it’s a give-and-take. Yes, people with Special Needs should be included in the community at large. But when they open the door and invite me into their community I am included not because someone preached awareness or pleaded for acceptance but because I am truly welcome.

When we think of inclusion, we need to stop thinking about making some sort of accommodation. We need to stop thinking of it as a challenge. We need to stop thinking of it as a burden. We need to stop thinking of it as a goal.

Rather, we need follow the example of those with Special Needs and learn to include with grace and dignity, genuinely and willingly and not because it’s the politically correct thing to do.

If we can do that the world will be transformed.

If somehow you’re reading this and you have no experience with Special Needs Community, I encourage you to volunteer for Special Olympics not because of what you will give but because of what you will receive.

Trust me, you will receive. You will be transformed.

 

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