Thursday, September 27, 2012

More of Louisiana state income tax refunds are steered to nonprofit ...

Taxpayers will have as many as 19 charities and nonprofit groups to donate some or all of their state income tax refunds to when the May 15 deadline rolls around, a record number of causes to choose from, state officials said this week. Lawmakers at the spring session added eight causes to the donation list, seven that will be added to the returns due in May and one for the tax returns due in 2014.

But Department of Revenue Chief of Staff Jason Decuir said when taxes are paid and refunds due, there is no guarantee that all of the 19 causes will survive.

Decuir said state law requires the department to drop checkoffs from returns that have not received at least $10,000 in donations for two consecutive years.

The status of the ones that might be dropped for next May will not be known for several weeks because the department has extended income tax-filing deadlines because of Hurricane Isaac, Decuir said.

Nine causes have been on the return for a few years, including the Military Family Assistance Fund, which helps needy families of active military personnel pay bills; the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund, which helps finance coastal protection programs; the Louisiana Prostate Cancer Fund; the National Lung Cancer Partnership; and the Louisiana Animal Welfare Commission.

Three more were added to the returns due last May: the Louisiana Food Bank Association, the state Bicentennial Commission and Battle of New Orleans Bicentennial Commission, and the Make-a-Wish Foundation for the Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana.

Between July 1, 2010, and June, 30, 2011, the last fiscal year for which totals are available, taxpayers donated $333,159, a record high, with donations to needy military families, coastal restoration and wildlife needs claiming about two-thirds of the take.

The Louisiana Housing Trust Fund came in dead last with just four taxpayers donating a total of $15 by June 30, 2011. The year before, 14 taxpayers donated $227 to the fund, making it a prime candidate for removal.

But department spokesman Byron Henderson said the trust fund was removed from the form after 2007 and the money that was reported the past few years comes from filing "post-2007 ... on amended returns or returns filed late."

Since the checkoff program was established by the Legislature in 1981, more than $2.6 million has been donated to charities and nonprofit groups, although seven years of data were not available, department officials said.

Greg Albrecht, the chief economist with the Legislative Fiscal Office, said the dollars given do not correspond with the "economic cycle" of taxpayers giving more in flush time and less in lean times.

"The last three years couldn't be called an up-cycle" in the state's economy, but the checkoffs generated in that period -- from $202,200 in 2009 to more than $333,000 in 2011 -- are some of the highest amounts donated in the 31-year history of the program, Albrecht said. The record low reported was in 1999, when just less than $26,300 was donated.

Albrecht said that needs of the military, coastal restoration and wildlife have widespread appeal while cancer programs are usually supported by individuals who survived a form of the disease or by their surviving relatives.

The additions for the coming tax cycle are the Louisiana Association of United Way's 211 hotline for social service needs; the Odyssey Foundation for the Arts, a Shreveport group that works to combat childhood obesity and operates a resource center for families of children with autism spectrum disorders; the Louisiana Alliance for the Advancement of End of Life Care; the Louisiana chapter of the American Red Cross; the New Opportunities Waiver Program for treatment of the handicapped; Friends of Palmetto Island State Park; and Dreams Come True Inc.

A fund to help finance detection of fraud and abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be added to the 2014 return, Decuir said.

Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, chairman of the Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, and Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee -- the two legislative panels that have authority over the revenue department -- said they do not expect legislators to seek to reduce the number of causes eligible.

"I personally don't think there are too many of them," Riser said. "It is good that people are doing this."

Decuir said whatever format the Legislature wants to adopt for added checkoffs, the agency will accommodate. He said as the list of causes grows, the department might have to redesign the forms, possibly going to a special checkoff schedule separate from the return.

Ed Anderson can be reached at eanderson@timespicayune.com or 225.342.5810.

Source: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/09/more_of_louisiana_state_income.html

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