Eligibility question for New York State Nursing Home Assessment Credit

[jmo7]

Turbo tax says "

• You cannot claim the credit for any part of the assessment paid directly to the nursing home by a health insurance policy, with public funds (such as, Medicaid or Medicare), or paid by a trust or other entity."

The assessment charge shows up on the bill received by recipient which is also partially paid by Medicaid. Is recipient eligible to claim?

[MaryK4]

Yes, you can claim the credit for any amounts paid by you.  The amount of the credit is the assessment amount separately stated and accounted for on the billing statements or other statements.  If the non-Medicaid amount is not identified, you can ask he Nursing Home for a statement showing this.  

[jmo7]

Thank you - a follow-up question please. The nursing home resident does not have sufficient income to require a federal return, Can you just file a NYS return to get the assessment credit without filing a federal return?

Thank you

[BillM223]

No.

The good news is that the New York State Nursing Home Assessment Credit is refundable, that is, any credit in excess of your assessed tax can be refunded to you.

The bad news is that TurboTax will require you to complete a federal return first, probably because every state that I know of requires that the federal return be filed first. This is because most states take most of their information from the federal return, so the federal has to be completed anyway.

[jmo7]

Thank you so much - pretty much what I expected.

John