Several little-noticed provisions of the recently-enacted law that extended the Bush-era tax cuts fundamentally alter how the Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs treat tax refunds and other tax credits, making it easier for people with special needs to maintain their benefits.

Under the new law, tax refunds are no longer considered countable income for Medicaid or SSI purposes. Furthermore, any money received through a tax refund will not be a countable resource for 12 months following receipt of the funds, and SSI and Medicaid recipients will be under no obligation to segregate the funds from their other resources (SSI recipients can only keep $2,000 of resources and still qualify for benefits). Because of the change in the law, an SSI beneficiary can now retain his tax refund, even if it puts him over the $2,000 resource limit, for up to one year from the date of receipt, which is welcome news for beneficiaries who usually have to count every penny in order to avoid a disruptive loss of benefits.

The new law also changes the treatment of several other important tax credits. Under previous rules, Making Work Pay, Earned Income, Advanced Earned Income, and Child Tax Credits were all excluded as countable income for Medicaid and SSI purposes, but if the income was retained, it had to be spent within nine months of receipt. Now, the 12-month rule applies to all of these tax credits and, furthermore, First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credits that were previously countable as income and as a resource are now exempt and subject to the same countability rules as the other tax credits.

In one more piece of good news, the law applies to any refunds or credits received after December 31, 2009, which means that, in limited cases, applicants who were initially denied SSI or Medicaid benefits due to receipt of a tax refund or credit may actually be retroactively eligible for benefits. The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services have also indicated that seniors and other people seeking Medicaid coverage for long-term care will not be subject to transfer-of-asset penalties if they give away their tax refunds or credits during the 12-month grace period.

We've posted a new article in our Special Needs Resources.

Since your eyes met you have spent each and every moment loving, caring for, guiding, educating and protecting your child with special needs. As a parent of a child with special needs, you have been making personal, financial and health care decisions for them since birth. Although hope is always alive, as a parent you know that even though your child is aging, their ability or capacity may be limited. In New York, when your child reaches age 18, you lose the legal right to make decisions for your child. This is not the time to panic. This is the time to plan!

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Every child has needs – a need to be loved, encouraged and cared for. This is probably the most joyful and daunting of experiences a parent will ever know. Unfortunately, a parent handbook is not one of the items included in a "goodie bag" once you leave the hospital after the birth of your child. Every child is special – that first birthday, school step-up ceremony and of course, the cross-over from pre- to teenage years