Report Title:
Caregivers; Tax Credit
Description:
Provides a $1,000 tax credit to taxpayer caregivers that care for qualified care recipients. (HB2097 HD1)
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2097 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to caregivers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Chapter 235, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§235- Caregiver tax credit. (a) There shall be allowed to each eligible taxpayer who is not claimed and is not otherwise eligible to be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer for federal or Hawaii state individual income tax purposes, and who files an individual net income tax return for a taxable year, a $1,000 caregiver tax credit.
(b) As used in this section:
"Care recipient" means a person who receives care from a caregiver.
"Caregiver" means a person who provides care to a care recipient.
"Eligible taxpayer" means a caregiver who cares for a care recipient who is:
(1) Sixty-years-of-age or older and is a citizen or resident alien of the United States;
(2) An immediate relative to the caregiver or an immediate in-law of the caregiver and has lived in the caregiver's home for at least six months of the taxable year and has received more than fifty per cent of the care recipient's financial support during the taxable year from the caregiver; and
(3) Certified by a licensed physician or a registered nurse as requiring one of the following:
(A) Substantial supervision to protect the care recipient from threat to health or safety due to cognitive impairment; or
(B) Substantial assistance to perform at least two of the following daily living activities:
(i) Bathing;
(ii) Eating;
(iii) Using the toilet;
(iv) Dressing; or
(v) Transferring (i.e., bed to wheelchair).
(c) An eligible taxpayer may claim the tax credit for every taxable year that a care recipient receives care. Only one caregiver per household may claim a tax credit for any care recipient cared for in a taxable year. An eligible taxpayer may not claim multiple tax credits under this section in a taxable year, regardless of the number of care recipients receiving care.
(d) If the tax credit under this section exceeds the taxpayer's net income tax liability under this chapter, any excess of the tax credit may be used as a credit against the taxpayer's income tax liability in subsequent taxable years until exhausted; provided that no payment on account of the tax credit allowed by this section shall be made for amounts less than $1.
(e) Every claim, including amended claims, for the tax credit under this section shall be filed on or before the end of the twelfth month following the close of the taxable year for which the tax credit may be claimed. Failure to meet the filing requirements of this subsection shall constitute a waiver of the right to claim the tax credit.
(f) The director of taxation shall prepare such forms as may be necessary to claim a tax credit under this section, may require proof of the claim for the tax credit, and may adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to effectuate the purposes of this section.
(g) The department of taxation shall report to the legislature annually, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of every regular session, on the number of taxpayers claiming the tax credit and the total cost of the tax credit to the State during the past year."
SECTION 2. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 3. This Act, upon its approval, shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2005.