IRS fails to inform 9/11 victims of tax breaks

angelburst29

The Living Force
This is the first I have heard of Tax Breaks for 911 victims and their Families.

EXCLUSIVE: IRS fails to inform 9/11 victims of tax breaks, leaving many first responders without refunds
_http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/exclusive-irs-fails-inform-9-11-victims-tax-break-leaving-refunds-article-1.1881394

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Under a law passed months after the 9/11 attacks, disability income resulting from terrorism is not taxable. Many were unaware of this benefit because the IRS never updated its public guidance, leaving victims without refunds because of failure to file within the three-year time limit.

Victims of the 9/11 attacks and their families are entitled to big tax breaks, but many are missing out because the IRS isn’t telling them about the benefit.

Under a law passed months after the attacks, disability income resulting from terrorism is not taxable.

That means thousands of cops, firefighters and other first responders sickened after working at the site, and the families of those who’ve died, can claim $10,000, or the last three years of taxes the victim paid, whichever amount is larger.

But the IRS never updated its public guidance to advertise the benefit. Tax preparers, firms, — including New York City’s own insurance manager — and individual filers were left unaware.


One ailing former first responder who asked not to be named told the Daily News that his tax preparer, after failing to find agency information on the break, declined to request the refund for his client.

“He didn’t want to get involved,” the responder said.

Even operators on the agency’s own hotline aren’t trained to flag the benefit.

Chris Gifford, 59, a retired NYPD cop battling kidney cancer linked to days he spent manning a post by Ground Zero, said a hotline operator this spring told him she couldn’t help him seek the refund.

“She said, ‘We can’t give out that information,’” Gifford said.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, whose office learned of the benefit from an ailing recovery worker, thought she’d got somewhere in April when IRS head John Koskinen told her the agency would update its guidance.

Three months later, it hasn’t.

Gillibrand’s office is still helping refund seekers who have been rebuffed by the IRS and is pushing for swifter action.

Gillibrand spoke on the phone Friday with Koskinen. He pledged immediate action to address the issue, her office said.

“The senator appreciates the commissioner’s personal commitment to resolving this issue quickly,” said Gillibrand spokesman Glen Caplin.

But advocates for victims still fear lower-level officials will drag their feet until next year, leaving those who are eligible at risk of losing out. Victims have to file for refunds within three years of diagnosis, and families of those who died must file within three years of the date of death.

“The IRS needs to update their publications as soon as possible or disabled 9/11 responders and survivors will lose another year of this tax relief, as will the families of those who died from their 9/11 injury,” said Ben Chevat, who heads 9/11 Healthwatch, a nonprofit monitoring benefit programs for attack victims.


Two victims who asked not be named said the IRS initially rejected their refund claims. They received tax relief after Gillibrand’s office intervened.

Jennifer McNamara, the widow of FDNY lieutenant John who died five years ago of colon cancer that doctors linked to his work at Ground Zero, is among those won’t receive a refund because they didn’t know to ask.

“It’s really a shame and it should be an embarrassment to our government that they allow it to happen,” she said.

McNamara, a lawyer who advises other victim’s families, counts herself “very well-informed” on benefits related to the attack.

“But I never knew about this,” she said.

As a result McNamara missed her window to seek a refund.

“I was told I was pretty much out of luck,” she said.
 
2,500 Ground Zero workers have cancer
_http://nypost.com/2014/07/27/cancers-among-ground-zero-workers-skyrocketing/

Sunday July 27, 2014

More than 2,500 Ground Zero rescuers and responders have come down with cancer, and a growing number are seeking compensation for their illnesses, The Post has learned.

The grim toll has skyrocketed from the 1,140 cancer cases reported last year.

In its latest tally, the World Trade Center Health Program at Mount Sinai Hospital counts 1,655 responders with cancer among the 37,000 cops, hard hats, sanitation workers, other city employees and volunteers it monitors, officials told The Post.

The tragic sum rises to 2,518 when firefighters and EMTs are added. The FDNY, which has its own WTC health program, said Friday it counts 863 members with cancers certified for 9/11-related treatment.


A retired FDNY captain, 63, who toiled non-stop at Ground Zero for a week after 9/11, and months in all, recently received a $1.5 million award from the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund for lung disease and inoperable pancreatic cancer.

The emaciated Bravest brought VCF Special Master Sheila Birnbaum to tears when he testified at a hearing in May — expedited because of his dim prognosis — telling how he loves his grandchildren and worries about his wife of 40 years.

“I’m hoping they rush more cases like mine, where we’re not expected to last long,” he told The Post.

On 9/11, he commandeered a city bus and got the Brooklyn Bridge closed so he and his crew from Ladder Co. 132 could race to the towers, where they joined the dig for victims.

“I knew that day that a lot of us would get sick,” he said.

He was forced to retire in 2008 after lung damage left him wheezing after fires. Last year, doctors found a huge tumor entwined around arteries: “They couldn’t take it out without killing me,” he said.

The 6-foot-2 firefighter — a muscle-bound 240 pounds on 9/11 — now weighs 160 after chemotherapy and radiation.

“I was a very active guy. Now there’s not much I can do,” he said, adding that his three toddler grandkids give him joy, though he’s often too weak to play with them.

“I’m grateful for it,” he said of his VCF award, which is mainly based on lost earnings but includes $250,000 for pain and suffering. “I just don’t understand why they’re making everyone wait two years.”

VCF recipients get 10 percent immediately, with the rest due in 2016.

As of June 30, the VCF had received 1,145 claims listing cancer, many also with other ailments, according to data compiled for The Post.

Of those, 881 claims — for scores of cancer types — were deemed eligible for compensation, with the rest under review. The vast majority are 9/11 workers, but they include 17 downtown residents and five visitors.

So far, 115 cancer claimants have been awarded a total $50.5 million, in sums from $400,000 to $4.1 million. The VCF could not say how many cancer claimants have died.

Many more sufferers or their next-of-kin are expected to file by the Oct. 14 deadline for cancer claims.

WTC epidemiologists say studies show that 9/11 workers have gotten certain cancers at a significantly higher rate than expected in the normal population — prostate, thyroid, leukemia and multiple myeloma.
 
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