TRENTON — According to the state Department of the Public Advocate, approximately 156,000 New Jerseyans — many elderly and disabled — have yet to apply for their $300 to $600 federal economic stimulus rebate checks, including over 2,600 Cape May County residents.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimated last month that some 5.2 million Americans are eligible for an economic stimulus check authorized by Congress but have yet to file. New Jersey has an estimated 156,768 residents eligible for the funds who have not yet filed and about 69 percent of those who have not filed are age 65 and older, according to the IRS.
Those who receive a small amount of federal benefits but don’t normally file income tax returns have been the hardest hit because they don’t realize they must file a return to receive the payment.
The deadline for filing a 1040 tax form required for the economic stimulus check is Oct. 15.
In an effort to ensure those residents get what is coming to them, Public Advocate Ronald Chen Aug. 29 sent letters to 1,253 nursing, assisted living and residential health care facilities throughout the state, including 27 such facilities in this county, with instructions to help residents claim the funds.
“We have had reports that some tax preparers are charging in excess of $100 to prepare a simple tax form and that some nursing facilities are helping senior residents prepare the forms but are scooping up the funds as soon as they arrive,” said Chen, who noted that the Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly has identified and is investigating about a dozen such complaints.
“We are asking nursing facilities to try to identify which residents are eligible for the stimulus funds and to help them get the necessary tax forms filled out,” said Elder Ombudsman Debra Branch, noting that many care facilities for elderly people are “doing a great job assisting their residents” to obtain the Stimulus funds while others “don’t have any idea that this is even an issue.”
Information on how to apply is available on the NJ Department of the Public Advocate Web site at www.njpublicadvocate.gov under “News” or on the IRS Web site www.irs.gov.
“Every nursing home and assisted living facility has business office staff or a social worker who can assist their residents with this task,” Branch added.
Maggie Gannon, administrator of the Crest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, told the Herald that the county facility had already addressed the economic stimulus checks for its residents long before receiving the Public Advocate’s letter.
“We started in April communicating with residents and their families telling them what we were going to do,” Gannon said. “We’ve processed forms for 85 of our 160 full-time residents and 84 have already received their payments.”
Gannon said $25,200 was deposited into the residents’ personal needs accounts.
Gannon said on a recent visit on another matter the Public Advocate inquired about how Crest Haven was handling the economic stimulus checks for its residents.
“They said we were a ‘model facility,’” Gannon said.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
