Nobody likes to work. Too much time, too much headache. Also, one may be unlucky to find oneself at the mercy of a boss who derives pleasure from oppressing his grunts. Also, TAXES. Nuff’ said. This little guide will introduce you, the lucky reader, to the wacky world of GOVERNMENT BENEFITS!! We will cover:
- EBT (Food Stamps)
- TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), AKA Welfare
- Government Grants and Loans
Part 1: Food Stamps
Nobody likes paying for food, especially in this economy. Swallow your pride, get FOOD STAMPS!!! You may say: “But Mr. Tach, my family makes too much money to get those!!!” Well, worry no more.
First, households can get food stamps if their gross monthly income (total amount of money a household brings in in a month) is 130% or less of the federal poverty level, which is $1,800 per month for a family of three. So, you may qualify without even knowing! Also, if you meet certain conditions, you automatically qualify.
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10100.html#foodstamps
If you don’t meet any of these conditions, you aren’t out of luck. Go to an inner city grocery store. Outside, people often sell their benefits for cash. Buy them. You save half of the value of the card. For example, if Tyrone’s been saving his stamps on his EBT card (the card that the benefits are stored on, it’s like a debit card) and has $900 on it, he most likely will sell you the card for $450. You go in, buy $900 worth of food for only $450. Give Tyrone his card back. Leave. It’s not as good as having your own benefits, but it’s better than paying full price.
If you have family members who are drug addicts or have other nasty habits that cost LOTS of money, yet have very low social skills, take them to the local benefits office and have them apply for food stamps. They will get them. Since they are not likely to use the card, you can broker transactions for them in which you sell the stamps to others on their behalf. For example, if Jimmy gets $225 in benefits per month, find one of your friends whose in a pinch. Sell the stamps to the friend, pocket $112.5 (half, remember?). If you feel generous, split the proceeds with your druggie kin.
Part Two: TANF (Welfare)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempora…Needy_Families
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is the successor to the AFDC program, the goal of which was to give needy families with children financial support.
Here’s the work requirements for TANF.
- Recipients (with few exceptions) must work as soon as they are job ready or no later than two years after coming on assistance.
- Single parents are required to participate in work activities for at least 30 hours per week. Two-parent families must participate in work activities 35 or 55 hours a week, depending upon circumstances.
- Failure to participate in work requirements can result in a reduction or termination of benefits to the family.
- States, in FY 2004, have to ensure that 50 percent of all families and 90 percent of two-parent families are participating in work activities. If a state reduces its caseload, without restricting eligibility, it can receive a caseload reduction credit. This credit reduces the minimum participation rates the state must achieve.
Applying for TANF
Each state has its own TANF program. Here’s a link with telephone numbers and names of programs for all 50 states.
http://singleparents.about.com/od/fi…/find_TANF.htm
Here’s a copy of an application. Every state has a different application, TANF is a state-administered, federally funded program.
http://www.hsd.state.nm.us/pdf/AppFo…eRev013004.pdf
Remember, the less income and assets the applicant claims on the application, the more benefits they will be eligible for. Also, the more children they “have”, the more money they will receive. Nieces, Nephews, younger cousins, all come into play here. Offer to give their parents a piece of the money if they allow you to claim their kids on your application. You won’t regret it.
Part 3: Government Loans and Grants
The Federal Government has a myriad of loan and grant programs out there to stimulate growing businesses. Yeah.
Take a look.
If one is privy to another’s personal information, such as their Social Security Number, applying online is a snap. Also, one could set up a shell business with the information to receive government business loans and grants. There are so many opportunities here, be creative!
When dealing with stuff from the government, never, ever use one’s own personal information. This is common sense. Proxies come into heavy play here when applying online. Bank accounts are to be opened with the applicant’s information, not yours.
http://www.grants.gov/search/category.do
This site lists all government grants. Note that most of these require that one meets strict eligibility requirements. Since they are the federal government, they can be expected to perform thorough, pain in the ass investigations and examinations.
http://pellgranteligibility.net/fafs…t-application/
This links to a website that gives information about filling out the FAFSA, or Federal application for Student Aid. This opens up so many opportunities, one of them being the Pell Grant, which is need based. As long as the applicant can SHOW that he/she is indigent (poor), they’ll qualify for it. The poorer you are, the more money you get. The money is given to the school, and then the school deposits the money in the student’s account. To get maximum benefits, one should have as few assets under one’s own name as humanly possible. Have your parent’s names on your automobile, bank accounts and the like. Once the feds see that you’ve begun to accumulate assets, they’ll shut off that cash like clockwork.
This links to the actual FAFSA website.
Also, DON’T give out PI to anyone who calls/emails you out of the blue claiming to be a government representative who’s just “found out that you’re eligible for a FREE government grant/loan.” They’re trying to phish you, and many college students have been conned into giving out their personal information this way. The government won’t contact you about matters like these unless you APPLY. Online, don’t fuck with anything that’s not .gov.
Part 4: SSI (Supplemental Security Income)
SSI is a good thing to get in the US. My friend got it in just a few months by working with a homeless action center, you may have something similar near you. Fortunately he had a history of seeing a psychologist for about 1-1/2 years and a psychiatrist for a few months and BS’ing about stuff and not holding down a job for more than a few months. All this was done with the help of a transitional housing program he was using; free food, rent, utilities, and access to other programs and benefits in exchange for going to very lax meetings 2-3 times a week (house meeting, group therapy(sit around and talk with other members for an hour and with a therapist, just regular shooting the shit), sometimes a work shop about some BS (currently cooking, not that bad, won a $20 gift card), and meeting with a therapist for 15-30 minutes). He currently gets $920 a month because he’s still getting unemployment, which he got after quitting his job by appealing the denial and telling them at the appeal meeting that he did it because he’s been diagnosed with Asperger’s and the job was causing him too much anxiety, talked about meeting with a therapist, didn’t ask for any proof or nothing. Then when he stops getting unemployment he’ll only be getting about $820 total, but it’s enough; gets it via direct deposit too, tre pratique.
I tell you, it’s not easy being this lazy.
The best thing to do would be to work with an agency. Get certified as mentally ill, physically disabled, or homeless and you should be able to get an agency that helps those kinds people to help you get SSI, if there’s one near you. For me the actual amount of work I had to do, not counting meeting with a psychologist an psychiatrist, was very little. I’m sure there are many programs that give the homeless or disabled free access to mental health services, psychologists/therapists and psychiatrists, and getting diagnosed with something is easy. Programs are the key to getting it done cheaply/free and quickly.
Part 5: Earned Income Tax Credit
Summary:
The US Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable tax credit for individuals and couples with qualifying children. For tax year 2010, the maximum EITC for an individual or couple WITHOUT qualifying children is $457, with ONE qualifying child it’s $3,050, and with TWO qualifying children it’s $5,036, and with THREE or more qualifying hellspawn it’s $5,666.
How to claim:
When you claim EIC with one or more qualifying children, you need to fill out and attach Schedule EIC to your 1040 or 1040A. This form asks for the child(ren)’s name, social security number, year of birth, whether an older ‘child’ age 19 to 23 was classified as a student for the year (full-time status for at least one long semester, or equivalent time period), whether an older ‘child’ is classified as disabled during the year (doctor states one year on more), your relationship to the child, and the number of months the child lived with you in the United States.
To claim a person as your qualifying child, the child must meet the following requirements of relationship, age, and shared residence.
Relationship
You must be related to your qualifying child through law, marriage, or blood. Your qualifying ‘child’ can be:
- Your daughter, son, stepchild, foster child, or any further descendant (such as grandchild, great grandchild, etc.),
- Or your brother, sister, half sister, half brother, stepbrother, stepsister, or any further descendant (such as niece, nephew, great-nephew, great-niece, great-great-niece, etc.).
A foster child not in your extended family as above must be officially placed by an agency, court, or American Indian tribal government. An authorized placement agency includes a tax-exempt organization licensed by a state, and also includes an organization authorized by an Indian tribal government to place Native American children.
Adopted children can be in the process of being adopted provided they have been lawfully placed.
A child might classify as the qualifying child of more than one adult family member, at least initially. For example, in an extended family situation, both a parent and an uncle may meet the initial standards of relationship, age, and residency to claim a particular child. In such a case, there is a further rule: If a single parent or both parents, whether married or not, can claim the child (residency and age) but choose to waive the child to a non-parent, such as a grandparent or uncle or aunt, this non-parent can claim the child only if they have a higher adjusted gross income (AGI) than any parent who has lived with the child for at least six months.
This still remains the parent’s choice. Provided the parent has lived with the child for at least six months and one day, the parent can always choose to claim his or her child for purposes of the earned income credit. In a tiebreaker situation between two parents, the tiebreak goes to the parent who lived with the child the longest. In a tiebreaker between two non-parents, the tiebreak goes to the person with the higher AGI. These tiebreaker situations only occur if more than one family member actually files and claims the same child. On the other hand, if the family can agree, per the above and following rules, they can engage in a limited amount of tax planning as to which family member claims the child.
Age
You must be older than your qualifying child unless this person is classified as “permanently and totally disabled” (physician states one year or more), in which case this person can be any age and still classify as your qualifying child as long as the other requirements are met. More fully, the definition of “permanently and totally disabled” is that a person has a mental or physical disability, cannot engage in substantial gainful activity, and a physician has determined that the condition has lasted or is expected to last one year or more, or can lead to death. If the person is so classified, the age requirement is considered to be automatically met.
The standard age requirement is that your qualifying child must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year. That is, the person can be 18 years and 364 days old on December 31 and still classify as your “qualifying child” as long as the other requirements are met.
A qualifying child who is enrolled as a full-time student during some part of five calendar months can be up to and including age 23. That is, this older student can be 23 years and 364 days old on December 31 and still classify as your “qualifying child,” as long as the other requirements are met (relationship and residence). The standard Fall semester of a university, in which classes start in late August and continue through September, October, November, and early December, counts as part of five calendar months. And a similar conclusion applies to the standard Spring semester. However, the five months need not be consecutive and can be obtained with any combination of shorter periods. A full-time student is a student enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance. Schools also include technical, trade, and mechanical schools. High school students who work in co-op jobs or who are in a vocational high school program are considered to be full-time students.
Shared residence
You must live with your qualifying child(ren) within the fifty states and/or District of Columbia of the United States for more than half the tax year (per instructions, six months and one day is listed as 7 months on Schedule EIC). U.S. military personnel stationed outside the United States on extended active duty are considered to live in the U.S. for purposes of the EIC. Extended active duty means the person is called to duty for an indefinite period or for a period of more than 90 days (and this is still considered to be extended active duty even if the period ends up being less than 90 days).
Temporary absences, for either you or the child, due to school, hospital stays, business trips, vacations, shorter periods of military service, or jail or detention, are ignored and instead count as time lived at home. “Temporary” is perhaps unavoidably vague and generally hinges or whether you and/or the child are expected to return, and the IRS does not provide any substantial guidance past this. If the child was born or died in the year and your home was the child’s home, or potential home, for the entire time the child was alive during the year, this counts as living with you, and per instructions, 12 months is entered on Schedule EIC.
Unlike the rules for claiming a dependent, there is no rule that a qualifying child for the EIC not having supported themselves. A child who supports himself or herself can still qualify as a your qualifying child for purposes of the EIC. There is an exception, as there often is in tax law. If your qualifying child is married, you need to be able to claim this child as a dependent or be waiving this dependency to the child’s other parent.
Other requirements
Investment income cannot be greater than $3,100.
A claimant must be either a United States citizen or resident alien. In the case of married filing jointly where one spouse is and one isn’t, the couple can elect to treat the nonresident spouse as resident and have their entire worldwide income subject to U.S. tax, and will then be eligible for EIC.
Filers both with and without qualifying children must have lived in the 50 states and/or District of Columbia of the United States for more than half the tax year (six months and one day). Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and other U.S. territories do not count in this regard. However, a person on extended military duty is considered to have met this requirement for the period of the duty served.
For persons without a qualifying child, there is an age requirement in that the person must be from age 25 to 64. For persons with a qualifying child, there is no age requirement per se, other than the fact that the filer themselves must not claimable as a qualifying child (which can happen in some extend family situations, including up to age 23 if the filer is enrolled as a full-time college student for at least one long semester).
All filers (and children being claimed) must have a valid social security number. This includes social security cards printed with “Valid for work only with INS authorization” and “Valid for work only with DHS authorization.”
Single, Head of Household, Qualifying Widow(er), and Married Filing Jointly are all equally valid filing statuses for EIC. In fact, depending on the income of both spouses, Married Filing Jointly can be advantageous in some circumstances because, in 2009, the phase-out for MFJ for begins at $21,450 whereas phase-out begins at $16,450 for the other filing statuses. A couple who is legally married can file MFJ even if they lived apart the entire year and even if they shared no revenues or expenses, as long as both spouses agree. However, if both spouses do not agree, or if there are other circumstances such as domestic violence., a spouse who lived apart with children for the last six months of the year and who meets other requirements, can file as Head of Household. Or, for a couple that is split up but still legally married, they might considering visiting an accountant at separate times and perhaps even signing a joint return on separate visits. There is even an IRS form that can be used to request direct deposit into up to three separate accounts. In addition, if a person obtains a divorce by December 31, that will carry, since it is marital status on the last day of the year that controls for tax purposes. In addition, if a person is “legally separated” according to state law by December 31, that will also carry. The only disqualifying filing status for purposes of the EIC is married filing separately.
EIC phases out by the greater of earned income or adjusted gross income.
A married couple in 2010, whose total income was just shy of $21,500, but who had more than $3,100 of investment income, would have received the maximum credit for their number of qualifying children, but because of the rule that for any claimant—whether single of married, with or without children—that investment income cannot be greater than $3,100, will instead receive zero EIC. This is an edge case, but there are income ranges and situations in which an increase of investment dollars can result in a loss of after-tax dollars. (Instead of $21,500, the beginning of phase-out for Single, Head of Household, and Qualifying Widow(er) is $16,450. And, EIC phases out relatively slowly, at 16% or 21% depending on the number of children.)
Refund Anticipation Loans
These, simply put, are loans in which the collateral is one’s anticipated tax refund, hence the name!
Criminals often use infants’ stolen personal information which enables them to claim them on fraudulent tax returns and get RALS.
Discuss http://www.totse.info/bbs/showthread.php/10217-Scamming-US-Government-Benefits
