Irs Publication 524 - Credit For The Elderly Or The Disabled

However, if you and your spouse did not live in the same

gainful activity because of your physical or mental condi-

household at any time during the tax year, you can file

tion. A physician must certify that the condition has lasted

either joint or separate returns and still take the credit.

or can be expected to last continuously for 12 months or

more, or that the condition can be expected to result in

Head of household. You can file as head of household

death. See

Physician’s statement,

later.

and qualify to take the credit, even if your spouse lived with

you during the first 6 months of the year, if you meet all the

Substantial gainful activity. Substantial gainful activ-

following tests.

ity is the performance of significant duties over a reasona-

ble period of time while working for pay or profit, or in work

1. You file a separate return.

generally done for pay or profit. Full-time work (or part-time

2. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your

work done at your employer’s convenience) in a competi-

home during the tax year.

tive work situation for at least the minimum wage conclu-

sively shows that you are able to engage in substantial

3. Your spouse did not live in your home at any time

gainful activity.

during the last 6 months of the tax year and the

Substantial gainful activity is not work you do to take

absence was not temporary. (See Temporary ab-

care of yourself or your home. It is not unpaid work on

sences in Publication 501.)

hobbies, institutional therapy or training, school attend-

4. Your home was the main home of your child,

ance, clubs, social programs, and similar activities. How-

stepchild, or an eligible foster child for more than half

ever, doing this kind of work may show that you are able to

the year. An eligible foster child is a child placed with

engage in substantial gainful activity.

you by an authorized placement agency or by judg-

The fact that you have not worked for some time is not,

ment, decree, or other order of any court of compe-

of itself, conclusive evidence that you cannot engage in

tent jurisdiction.

substantial gainful activity.

5. You can claim an exemption for that child, or you

The following examples illustrate the tests of substantial

cannot claim the exemption only because the non-

gainful activity.

custodial parent can claim the child using the rules

for children of divorced or separated parents.

Example 1. Trisha, a sales clerk, retired on disability.

She is 53 years old and now works as a full-time babysitter

For more information, see Publication 501, Exemptions,

for the minimum wage. Even though Trisha is doing differ-

Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

ent work, she is able to do the duties of her new job in a

full-time competitive work situation for the minimum wage.

Under Age 65

She cannot take the credit because she is able to engage

in substantial gainful activity.

If you are under age 65 at the end of 2009, you can qualify

for the credit only if you are retired on permanent and total

Example 2. Tom, a bookkeeper, retired on disability.

disability (discussed next) and have taxable disability in-

He is 59 years old and now drives a truck for a charitable

come (discussed later under

Disability

income.). You are

organization. He sets his own hours and is not paid. Duties

retired on permanent and total disability if:

of this nature generally are performed for pay or profit.

•

You were permanently and totally disabled when you

Some weeks he works 10 hours, and some weeks he

retired, and

works 40 hours. Over the year he averages 20 hours a

•

week. The kind of work and his average hours a week

You retired on disability before the close of the tax

conclusively show that Tom is able to engage in substan-

year.

tial gainful activity. This is true even though Tom is not paid

and he sets his own hours. He cannot take the credit.

Even if you do not retire formally, you may be considered

retired on disability when you have stopped working be-

Example 3. John, who retired on disability, took a job

cause of your disability.

with a former employer on a trial basis. The purpose of the

If you retired on disability before 1977, and were not

job was to see if John could do the work. The trial period

permanently and totally disabled at the time, you can

lasted for 6 months during which John was paid the mini-

qualify for the credit if you were permanently and totally

disabled on January 1, 1976, or January 1, 1977.

mum wage. Because of John’s disability, he was assigned

only light duties of a nonproductive “make-work” nature.

You are considered to be under age 65 at the end

The activity was gainful because John was paid at least the

of 2009 if you were born after January 1, 1945.

TIP

minimum wage. But the activity was not substantial be-

cause his duties were nonproductive. These facts do not,

by themselves, show that John is able to engage in sub-

stantial gainful activity.

Permanent and total disability. You are permanently

and totally disabled if you cannot engage in any substantial

Publication 524 (2009)

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Irs Publication 524 - Credit For The Elderly Or The Disabled - 2009 Page 3

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