Filing taxes while in prison...

[rs04rs07]

My LO has currently been in prison for the past few months. He has a pension and is still a homeowner (he rents out the property to a family member, and another family member managers his income.)

Just wondering how to go about filing his taxes next year. Would he be able to do that himself in prison (highly doubtful and probably would be too difficult, scratch that idea lol) or would I or somebody in his family just have to do it for him? I think in this situation though, I would probably go and have a professional get it done instead of doing it for him.

Anybody who has any experience on doing somebody elses taxes while they are incarcerated, any advice would be greatly appreciated .

EDIT: Subject title should probably be "Filing Taxes while in Prison" instead...

[pastry520]

I'm not sure but you or someone might have to get a powere of attorney. But I'm not sure. Good Luck and God bless!

[rs04rs07]

How do I go about being a power of attorney for him? Would I be able to send him the documents to sign for, and would he be able to sign for it and send it back while in prison? Is that allowed?

[rs04rs07]

To anybody who can help: He's incarcerated in Massachusetts, but his family and his home are in New York. I would have to send him a New York power of attorney form, correct?

[rs04rs07]

Originally Posted by rs04rs07

To anybody who can help: He's incarcerated in Massachusetts, but his family and his home are in New York. I would have to send him a New York power of attorney form, correct?

I looked more into power of attorney and it looks like we both need to have a Notary witness our signings....that would be tough. hmm..

[Hiswifey2001]

I got power of attorney and he was able to get a notary sign it inside and i did not hadn't to be present then he mailed it to me

[rs04rs07]

how did he get a notary to sign it?

[SusanWayward]

Originally Posted by rs04rs07

how did he get a notary to sign it?

They usually have access to notary services through the prison law library.

[fbopnomore]

To answer your tax question. The IRS has their own power of attorney form, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2848.pdf
and that is the only one they will honor. It does not need to be notarized, just signed by the taxpayer. With that in hand, you can have a tax preparer do the return and file it electronically with the IRS, plus any refund will be sent wherever you direct it, by electronic deposit or an actual refund check. If you do decide to receive a check, the IRS POA will not permit you to negotiate a US Treasury check, nor will you be able to access the funds from the bank account where the refund was deposited unless you have a regular (probably notarized) general POA. All prison systems I have encountered have a method to notarize (or guarantee) an inmate's signature.

If he wants to prepare his own tax returns (I did in federal prison) the IRS will mail the tax forms directly to him if he requests them, and he can sign and mail the tax return directly to the IRS himself. The IRS is aware of every prison mailing address because of all the inmate scams they have encountered, so I continued to use my legal home address the entire time I was locked up.

He can also file an automatic 6 month extension (form 4868) of the tax return due date as long as he won't owe additional taxes. If he does, he could incur a monetary penalty for late payment.

[rs04rs07]

Originally Posted by fbopnomore

To answer your tax question. The IRS has their own power of attorney form, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2848.pdf
and that is the only one they will honor. It does not need to be notarized, just signed by the taxpayer. With that in hand, you can have a tax preparer do the return and file it electronically with the IRS, plus any refund will be sent wherever you direct it, by electronic deposit or an actual refund check.

Thank you so much man. This information is seriously very helpful to me, and actually sounds very easy which is a weight off my shoulders.

[rs04rs07]

ha maybe not that easy. fbopnomore, a few questions regarding that tax form:

How do I find out his Taxpayer ID number?

What the heck is a CAF No? Also PTIN??

Also, regarding page 2...How do I find out his PIN number?

Is this stuff even important to fill out? All that should really matter is his signature?

[fbopnomore]

His taxpayer ID number (tin) is his social security number, which he will have to give you. The other numbers have to do with electronic filing. CAF and PTIN are numbers issued to a commercial tax preparer by the IRS
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4245.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=210909,00.html

When a tax return is filed electronically, you will be able to set up an account, with a PIN # of your choosing, to track the status of the refund.

None of that comes into play if 1. you are not a commercial tax preparer and 2. you mail the tax return to the IRS.

As you can tell, electronic tax filing certainly simplifies the process, lol.

[4ever love]

Originally Posted by rs04rs07

My LO has currently been in prison for the past few months. He has a pension and is still a homeowner (he rents out the property to a family member, and another family member managers his income.)

Just wondering how to go about filing his taxes next year. Would he be able to do that himself in prison (highly doubtful and probably would be too difficult, scratch that idea lol) or would I or somebody in his family just have to do it for him? I think in this situation though, I would probably go and have a professional get it done instead of doing it for him.

Anybody who has any experience on doing somebody elses taxes while they are incarcerated, any advice would be greatly appreciated .

I thought about this and I would use a professional taxpayer. Why? There are several ways to go about his taxes. The professional will know which ones to use to lower his taxes, if any are owed.

Pensions, rental income, rental expenses, property taxes require more than just one form. Whoever manages his affairs would be the one he assigns permission to.

Good luck and here's hoping for a good return!

[nmiller855]

Is he receiving his pension payments while he is incarcerated?

[fbopnomore]

I don't know about him, but most (earned) pensions continue to be paid while someone is in prison. Social Security will not pay any money to anyone for each month they are in a prison, jail or HWH. Veteran's Administration pensions also stop for the prisoner, but the money can be paid to their spouses/children instead.

Other government and private pensions depend on their own rules and I don't know of any that stop because of incarceration (but I bet there are some).

[rs04rs07]

yes, he is still getting his pension. sucks to hear he wont get his social security when hes eligible.

[fbopnomore]

Yes it does suck, especially since many folks are now paying over $10,000.00 a year into their SS retirement account, either all themselves if self employed or half by them and half by their employer. Do that for 20, 30 or 40 years (the annual maximum payment was much less when those folks started working, but it was always "serious money") and then find out that your retirement checks are not only denigrated as being an "entitlement" by the politicians, but also that you completely forfeit what you have paid into the system if you happen to be one of the millions of folks locked up here in the land of the prisoner.

If it was anyone other than the government, they would probably join the other prisoners for defrauding their investors.

[Momma Ann]

Only forfeited while inside and others on account continue to get their checks.

[fbopnomore]

Correct, once you are no longer in custody, you are eligible to receive retirement, disability, SSI and survivor benefit checks from Social Security. It can take time to start receiving them, but they are payable as soon as you are released from jail, prison or a HWH.