If you provide care to an individual who has a physical, mental, or emotional handicap, the difficulty of care payments you receive are generally excluded from income. Review the information below to determine how to report these payments, if necessary, on your tax return.

According to the IRS website Certain Medicaid Waiver Payments May Be Excludable From Income:

On January 3, 2014, the IRS issued Notice 2014-7 addressing the income tax treatment of certain payments to an individual care provider under a state Home and Community-Based Services Waiver (Medicaid waiver) program. The notice provides that the IRS will treat “qualified Medicaid waiver payments” as difficulty of care payments excludable from gross income under § 131 of the Internal Revenue Code. For purposes of the notice, qualified Medicaid waiver payments are payments by a state, a political subdivision of a state, or a certified Medicaid provider under a Medicaid waiver program to an individual care provider for nonmedical support services provided under a plan of care to an individual (whether related or unrelated) living in the individual care provider’s home.

Exception: Difficulty of care payments are not excludable to the extent that the payments are for more than 10 qualified foster individuals who have not attained age 19 or 5 qualified foster individuals who have attained age 19.

Form 1099-MISC, Box 3:

Generally, report this amount on the “Other income” line of Schedule 1 (Form 1040) (or Form 1040NR) and identify the payment. The amount shown may be payments received as the beneficiary of a deceased employee, prizes, awards, taxable damages, Indian gaming profits, or other taxable income. See Pub. 525. If it is trade or business income, report this amount on Schedule C or F (Form 1040).

Form 1099-MISC, Box 7:

Shows nonemployee compensation. If you are in the trade or business of catching fish, box 7 may show cash you received for the sale of fish. If the amount in this box is SE income, report it on Schedule C or F (Form 1040), and complete Schedule SE (Form 1040). You received this form instead of Form W-2 because the payer did not consider you an employee and did not withhold income tax or social security and Medicare tax. If you believe you are an employee and cannot get the payer to correct this form, report this amount on the line for "Wages, salaries, tips, etc." of Form 1040 (or Form 1040NR). You also must complete Form 8919 and attach it to your return. If you are not an employee but the amount in this box is not SE income (for example, it is income from a sporadic activity or a hobby), report this amount on the"Other income" line of Schedule 1 (Form 1040) (or Form 1040NR).

To enter the Form 1099-MISC, Box 7 income on Schedule C:

If you have not already entered the applicable Schedule C information:

1. From within your TaxAct® return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal
2. Click Business Income to expand the category and then click Business income or loss from a sole proprietorship
3. Click New Copy of Federal Schedule C (Desktop users click Add) to create a new copy of the form or Review to modify a form already created
4. Continue with the interview process to enter all of your applicable business information
5. When you reach the screen titled Business Income - Income, click Yes
6. Click Yes to indicate that you received a Form 1099-MISC
7. Click New Copy of Form 1099-MISC (Desktop users click Add) to create a new Form 1099-MISC
8. Click Form 1099-MISC Quick Entry to open the Quick Entry window
9. Enter all of the applicable information from your Form 1099-MISC
10. Close the Quick Entry window
11. Assign the Form 1099-MISC that you just entered to the Schedule C that you are currently completing from the Assigned form or schedule drop-down list

Once you have entered the Form 1099-MISC income, the program will bring you through additional screens to complete the Schedule C. To enter the excludable amount as an expense, continue to the screen titled Business Income - Expenses, and click Yes. Continue to the screen titled Business Income - Expenses with an entry field for Qualified Medicaid waiver payments exclusion (Notice 2014-7). Enter the excluded amount on this screen.

Below are the steps to remove the Self-Employment Tax by entering an adjustment for Schedule SE:

1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal
2. Click Taxes in the middle of the screen to expand the category and then click Self-employment tax adjustments
3. Click Continue or No until you reach the screen Self-Employment Tax - Adjustments
4. On the bottom line Other adjustments (+ or -): enter the income amount (as a negative number) which should be exempt from self-employment tax.

Form W-2:

Box 1. Enter this amount on the wages line of your tax return. If you choose to apply the Notice to payments received in 2017, you will enter the income in the Wages and Salaries section of the Federal Q&A, but will also report the excludable amount as a negative adjustment.

To enter the Form W-2:

1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal
2. Click Wages and Salaries to expand the category and then click Wage income reported on Form W-2
3. Click New Copy of Form W-2 (Desktop users click Add) to create a new copy of the form or click Review to modify a form already created
4. Click Quick Entry or Step-by-Step Guidance
   1. If you select Quick Entry, fill in the form to match your paper copy of Form W-2 and be sure to scroll down to answer questions.
   2. If you select Step-by-Step Guidance, the program will proceed with the interview questions for you to enter or review the appropriate information.

To enter the adjustment:

1. Click Federal. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal
2. Click Other Income in the middle of the screen to expand the category and then click Prizes, awards and other miscellaneous income
3. On the screen titled Miscellaneous - Amounts Received, enter the excluded amount in the field for Medicaid waiver payments to care provider.

When you print your return, the text See Attached will print to the left of Line 21 of Schedule 1(Form 1040). An attached sheet will print with the return titled Other Income - Supporting Details for Schedule 1 (Form 1040), Line 21 which will print both the description and amount that was entered.

Additional Information:

• Generally the payor should not issue a Form W-2 or 1099-MISC if they know the difficulty of care payments are excludable from your income. If you receive a Form W-2 or 1099-MISC reporting excludable difficulty of care payments, notify the payor that you are choosing to exclude the payments from your gross income. They should file and issue a corrected Form 1099-MISC or Form W-2c. Otherwise, use the information above to report the income and exclusion.
• The IRS is allowing taxpayers who received and reported payments in prior years to amend those prior year returns in order to exclude the income based on the new rules outlined in Notice 2014-7. Generally, for a credit or refund, you must file Form 1040X within 3 years (including extensions) after the date you filed your original return or within 2 years after the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.

Note: The link in the information above is updated each year automatically. It will take you to the most recent IRS version of the form instructions at the time it is accessed.