Legal Address for IRS and SS

Jennifur

So my mom is in a memory care facility in Pennsylvania. She moved there from NJ. I was a resident of NJ up until a week ago, so I would have all her mail sent to me. I m now a resident of NC.  I have a few questions that I really hope someone can advise me with:

How do I change my mothers legal  reisdential address for tax filing purposes?

 Do I use the memory care facility address? 

Does she pay taxes to that state? 

As her POA I need her mailing address to be ( mine) different from her physical address.

 As for SS benefits, she gets direct deposit but I need the SSA 1099 sent to my address so I can file her taxes. SS will not honor our  POA to make an address change on my mother's behalf. 

This whole thing seems so daunting. Many years ago when she was still living at home with a caregiver, I applied to be  representative payee for her and SS turned me down because they called her and she sounded suitably coherent ( even though she wasn't). 

This disease is so devastting and then trying to deal with government agencies on top of it is completely overwhelming.

Has anyone sucessfully navigated a situation like this?

abc123

I am sorry for your troubles! Hopefully a member called Crushed will see this post. He is our “go to” member for legal matters.

SusanB-dil

Not quite the same situation, but the first year i moved from NJ to NC, I had a CPA do my taxes due to the move with differing states. He knew the ins and outs of at least the addressing, and which state got paid what, and where to send the info.  A CPA may be able to help you with part of your answers, anyway.  wish I could be more helpful.

Can you re-apply to be representative payee with SS?  maybe try again? If not, at least ask them about address change.

agree - devastating!  and yes, 'red-tape' not fun.

Quilting brings calm

I’m not sure about having a mailing address in a different state then she resides for IRS purposes.  Also for Medicaid.  I also know that some Medicare part D plans won’t initially accept people who don’t live in states they operate in. You may need to get a mailing service or see if a bank or lawyer will become a trustee of sorts  just to accept mail and then forward it to you. 

However  my parents  SS address was changed  to mine via a typed letter from my parents.   No handwritten signature was on that letter  when it was mailed to an area SS office.  Address was changed with no issues.  We live in the same county so there are  no out of state issues.  Their monthly payments go into the same checking account they were already going to.  They also live in an assisted living facility. 

BassetHoundAnn

You'll need to reapply for representative payee status with Social Security. I found it was easy. I called the local SS office and made a phone appointment. A local SS rep called me and asked a bunch of questions. She filled out the forms, mailed them to me to sign and return. A few weeks later I received a letter stating that I was my mom's representative payee. 

Now this part was the hassle. I had to take that letter to her bank and open a special representative payee account for Social Security to deposit her checks. SS would not continue depositing her checks to her old account once I was representative payee. 

I would not have any of her mail delivered to the memory care. They would have to forward it to you and there's good possibility that won't happen or the mail (bills) will get lost in the shuffle. Use your address as your mom's official mailing address from now on for all purposes. That will simplify your life. Use your durable power of attorney to change the addresses on all of her accounts to your address. Have her mail forwarded to your address by taking the original copy of the durable POA to the post office (USPS won't accept a copy).

For taxes purposes your mom would file as a resident of PA with a mailing address of your home in NC. She would need to file a PA tax return. Tax return software makes it easy to specify a different state of residency than the mailing address, but I think it's clear on the 1099 Form. 

The paperwork and procedures to get all this done can really be overwhelming. It took me a while to get it all done. Good luck!