topic My wife has been out of work since Sept 2019, she has just been determined to be disabled effective Sept 2019. Will this change my tax return for 19,20 and 2021? in Retirement tax questions

My wife has been out of work since Sept 2019, she has just been determined to be disabled effective Sept 2019. Will this change my tax return for 19,20 and 2021?

samiam143 — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 07:20:13 GMT

I know the last years there was a box that asked if she was disabled, we checked no. That answer is now yes for 2019,2020. and 2021. Will that change my retrun?

Re: My wife has been out of work since Sept2019, she has just been determined to be disabled effective Sept 2019. Will this change my tax return for 19,20 and 2021?

xmasbaby0 — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 02:44:17 GMT

It does not change anything on your past or current federal tax return.

For disabled adults:

There is an extra amount added to your standard deduction if you are legally blind. Your federal return does not provide any other credits or deductions for saying you are disabled, with one possible exception.

There is a credit for the Elderly and Disabled which is so small that very few people benefit from it—-it has not been updated/increased by Congress for decades.

ELDERLY OR DISABLED CREDIT https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/do-i-qualify-for-the-credit-for-the-elderly-or-disabled

There are some states that provide various credits to elderly/disabled folks, so watch for that when you prepare your state return. The states that I know of that have anything for elderly/disabled are AZ, CT, DE, IA, MO, ND, NY, VE. There may be others.

Re: My wife has been out of work since Sept2019, she has just been determined to be disabled effective Sept 2019. Will this change my tax return for 19,20 and 2021?

xmasbaby0 — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 02:46:28 GMT

If your wife gets any sort of lump sum payment of past disability benefits, post back for how to enter that--but it will depend on what year she actually received the payment. You will not amend past returns even if she is awarded benefits for those past years.