Community Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

Community Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs offer free tax help and related financial services to low-income individuals and families. During the 2009 filing season, VITA programs (over 4,300 VITA sites) directly served over 1.2 million underserved taxpayers, including low-wage workers, persons with disabilities, the elderly, Native Americans, rural populations, and those with limited English-language skills.

Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) is used to describe a level of work activity and earnings. “Substantial” work involves physical and/or mental work activities either on a full-time or part-time basis that is “gainful” meaning the work is generally performed for pay or profit. This level of earnings is used to determine whether a person is disabled under the Social Security law.

Subsidy and Special Conditions are supports that an individual receives on the job. These supports may result in the individual receiving more pay  than the actual value of the services they perform. This may mean that the employer is providing extra support or supervision to the person, or that the person is producing less than coworkers who are performing the same work; and the person is receiving the same hourly wage for the work accomplished. Often, the support of a job coach is a special condition that is subsidized.

PESS is a Social Security provision which allows individuals to exclude certain property from resources that are necessary for their means of self-support.  

Under the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act, working Medicare Beneficiaries may keep their Medicare coverage for at least 93 months (seven years, nine months) after they complete their Trial Work Period.

The Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program is a special work incentive program designed to promote employment and to increase savings for families receiving Section 8 tenant-based assistance or living in public housing.