【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, October16, 2022】As an ongoing effort to enhance our valuable service to We Chinese in America website readers, We Chinese in America website posts English and Chinese versions of “IRS News Release” ， “IRS Fact Sheets”， and “tax tips” directly received from IRS Media Relations Office in Washington, D.C.. We are pleased to take on this important role partnering with IRS to better inform the public.
IRS sending letters to over 9 million potentially eligible families who did not claim stimulus payments, EITC, Child Tax Credit and other benefits; Free File to stay open until Nov. 17
WASHINGTON – Starting this week, the Internal Revenue Service is sending letters to more than 9 million individuals and families who appear to qualify for a variety of key tax benefits but did not claim them by filing a 2021 federal income tax return. Many in this group may be eligible to claim some or all of the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit, the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and other tax credits depending on their personal and family situation.
The special reminder letters, which will be arriving in mailboxes over the next few weeks, are being sent to people who appear to qualify for the Child Tax Credit (CTC), Recovery Rebate Credit (RRC) or Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) but haven’t yet filed a 2021 return to claim them. The letter, printed in both English and Spanish, provides a brief overview of each of these three credits.
“The IRS wants to remind potentially eligible people, especially families, that they may qualify for these valuable tax credits,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “We encourage people who haven’t filed a tax return yet for 2021 to review these options. Even if they aren’t required to file a tax return, they may still qualify for several important credits. We don’t want people to overlook these tax credits, and the letters will remind people of their potential eligibility and steps they can take.”
Claiming the credits
These and other tax benefits were expanded under last year’s American Rescue Plan Act and other recent legislation. Even so, the only way to get the valuable benefits is to file a 2021 tax return.
Often, individuals and families can get these expanded tax benefits, even if they have little or no income from a job, business or other source. This means that many people who don’t normally need to file a tax return should do so this year, even if they haven’t been required to file in recent years.
For this mailing, Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis identified individuals who don't typically have a tax return filing requirement because they appear to have very low incomes, based on Forms W-2, 1099s and other third-party statements available to the IRS.
The letters are similar to a special IRS mailing made in September 2020 encouraging 9 million potential non-filers to submit a tax return for the first Economic Impact Payment. This is part of an ongoing effort to encourage people who aren’t normally required to file to look into possible benefits available to them under the tax law. Every year, people can overlook filing a tax return when they may be entitled tax credits and a refund.
People can file a tax return even if they haven’t yet received their letter. The IRS reminds people that there’s no penalty for a refund claimed on a tax return filed after the regular April 2022 tax deadline. The fastest and easiest way to get a refund is to file an accurate return electronically and choose direct deposit.
Free File to stay open until Nov. 17
To help people claim these benefits, without charge, Free File will remain open for an extra month this year, until Nov. 17, 2022. Available only at IRS.gov/FreeFile, Free File enables people whose incomes are $73,000 or less to file a return online for free using brand-name software. Free File is sponsored by the Free File Alliance, a partnership between the IRS and the tax-software industry.
People can also visit ChildTaxCredit.gov/file to file a 2021 income tax return. Individuals whose incomes are below $12,500 and couples whose incomes are below $25,000 may be able to file a simple tax return to claim the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit—which covers any stimulus payment amounts from 2021 they may have missed—and the Child Tax Credit. Individuals do not need to have children in order to use ChildTaxCredit.gov/file to find the right filing solution for them.
Further details on these expanded tax benefits
The three credits include:
- An expanded Child Tax Credit: Families can claim this credit, even if they received monthly advance payments during the last half of 2021. The total credit can be as much as $3,600 per child.
- A more generous Earned Income Tax Credit: The law boosted the EITC for childless workers. There are also changes that can help low- and moderate-income families with children. The credit can be as much as $1,502 for workers with no qualifying children, $3,618 for those with one child, $5,980 for those with two children and $6,728 for those with at least three children.
- The Recovery Rebate Credit: Those who missed out on last year’s third round of Economic Impact Payments (EIP3) may be eligible to claim the RRC. Often referred to as stimulus payments, this credit can also help eligible people whose EIP3 was less than the full amount, including those who welcomed a child in 2021. The maximum credit is $1,400 for each qualifying adult, plus $1,400 for each eligible child or adult dependent.
Besides these three credits, many filers may also qualify for two other benefits with a tax return filed for 2021:
- An increased Child and Dependent Care Credit: Families who pay for daycare so they can work or look for work can get a tax credit worth up to $4,000 for one qualifying person and $8,000 for two or more qualifying persons.
- A deduction for gifts to charity: Most tax-filers who take the standard deduction can deduct eligible cash contributions they made during 2021. Married couples filing jointly can deduct up to $600 in cash donations and individuals can deduct up to $300 in donations. In addition, itemizers who make large cash donations often qualify to deduct the full amount in 2021.
Further details on all these benefits are available in a fact sheet, FS-2022-10, posted earlier this year on IRS.gov.
Helpful reminders
The IRS urges everyone to make sure they have all their year-end 2021 tax statements in hand before filing their 2021 return. Besides all W-2s and 1099s, this includes two statements issued by the IRS -- Letter 6419, showing their total advance Child Tax Credit payments, and Letter 6475, showing their total EIP3 payments. People can also use IRS Online Account to see the total amounts of their third round of Economic Impact Payments or advance Child Tax Credit payments. For married couples who received joint payments, each spouse will need to sign into their own account to retrieve their separate amounts.
Whether or not they use Free File, anyone can find answers to their tax questions, forms and instructions and easy-to-use tools online at IRS.gov. They can use these resources to get help when they need it, at home, at work or on the go.
Claiming these credits has no effect on the ability of someone to be eligible for federal benefits like Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Claiming these credits also has no effect on an individual’s immigration status or their ability to get a green card or immigration benefits。
Internal Resource Service
Media Relation Office
Washington, D. C
Media Contact: 202 317 4000
Public Contact: 800 829 1040
[《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, October 15, 2022】A new long-covid study based on the experiences of nearly 100,000 participants provides powerful evidence that many people do not fully recover months after being infected with the coronavirus (Penn Today – University of Pennsylvania)
The Scottish study found that between six and 18 months after infection, 1 in 20 people had not recovered and 42 percent reported partial recovery. There were some reassuring aspects to the results: People with asymptomatic infections are unlikely to suffer long-term effects, and vaccination appears to offer some protection from long covid.
“It’s one more well-conducted, population-level study showing that we should be extremely concerned about the current numbers of acute infections,” said David Putrino, director of rehabilitation innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York.
Jill Pell, a professor of public health at the University of Glasgow who led the research, emphasized that the study revealed the wide-ranging impact of long covid on people’s lives. “There are lots of different impacts going beyond health to quality of life, employment, schooling and the ability to look after yourself,” she said.
The range of reported symptoms and inability to provide a prognosis for patients have perplexed long-covid researchers, even as the breadth of the challenge has become clearer. Between 7 million and 23 million Americans — including 1 million who can no longer work — are suffering from the long-term effects of infection with the virus, according to government estimates. Those numbers are expected to rise as covid becomes an endemic disease.
Previous studies have been challenged by the nonspecific nature of long-covid symptoms, including breathlessness and fatigue, which are also common in the general population. The Covid in Scotland Study, which included a control group, was able to pinpoint which symptoms were linked to covid, Pell said.
“Those who had covid were significantly more likely to get 24 of the 26 symptoms studied compared to the never-infected general population,” she said. For example, those who were infected were 3½ times more likely to be breathless.
Putrino pointed out that between 16 and 31 percent of the control group also suffered those same symptoms — a figure that is similar to the false negative rate of a PCR test, suggesting some of the control group may have been infected. Pell agreed that it is possible that some people with negative tests could have been infected, serving to reinforce the study’s broader findings.
Long hauler symptoms range widely from person to person. In the Scottish study, the most commonly reported symptoms included breathlessness, palpitations, chest pain and “brain fog,” or reduced mental acuity.
Symptoms were worst among people who were sick enough to be hospitalized during the acute infection — a fact that does little to quell experts’ concerns.
“It has always been the case that those who are sicker are more likely to have long-term sequelae,” Putrino said. “What is frightening is that the mild cases by far outnumber the severe, so even a small percentage of mild cases going on to develop long-term sequelae is a massive public health concern.”
Putrino also warned against assuming that asymptomatic infection is not associated with persistent symptoms. “We have seen many patients who had a confirmed asymptomatic case,” he said. “It happens. It is statistically less common than those with symptomatic infection.”
The study found that the risk of long covid was greater among women, older people and those who live in economically disadvantaged communities. People who already suffered from physical and mental health problems, such as respiratory disease and depression, were also more prone to long covid.
(Source: The Washington Post)
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【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, October 13, 2022】The increase tops the 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment for 2022, which at the time was the highest in four decades. However, the Social Security Administration announced today, Social Security beneficiaries can expect an 8.7% boost to benefits in 2023.
The average Social Security retiree benefit will increase $146 per month, to $1,827 in 2023, from $1,681 in 2022.
The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior group, had estimated last month that the COLA could be 8.7% next year.
The confirmed 8.7% bump to benefits tops the 5.9% increase beneficiaries saw in 2022, which at the time was the highest in four decades.
“This is a really exceptionally good news day for older Americans, because their COLA is going up, their [Medicare] premiums are going to go down, and that means a lot more money in everyone’s pocket every month,” said Cristina Martin Firvida, vice president of government affairs at AARP.
“The COLAs really are about people treading water; they’re not increases in benefits,” said Dan Adcock, director of government relations and policy at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
“They’re more trying to provide inflation protection so that people can maintain their standard of living,” Adcock said.(Source: New York Times)
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【Diwali Lighting Celebration. Photo Credit: Alamy.com】
Dining with Asian Food and Wine
October 2022: Diwali
By
Ronald Jan, M.D.
In India, possibly the most celebrated festival of the year begins on the 13th day of the dark half of the lunar month, Ashvina. This usually occurs in the latter half of October or early November. It is called, “Diwali” meaning “row of lights” to celebrate the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance and to honor Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi. Commonly, Diwali is a post-harvest festival celebrating the bounty following the arrival of the monsoon. Families gather to celebrate and exchange gifts especially gifts of “mithai” (“sweets”). One such mithai is Gulab Jamun “Indian styled honey balls soaked in homemade syrup” featured at Mehfil’s Indian Restaurant in Roseville, California. (Indian People lighting candles celebrating Diwali. Photo Credit: Google.com)
【Gulab Jamun at Mehfil’s Indian Restaurant. Photo Courtesy of Ronald Jan, M. D.】
Although most Asian desserts are only mildly sweet and would be overwhelmed by the sweetness of some dessert wines, this dessert is so sweet that it calls for a very sweet wine that may be affected by botrytis, a fungus that concentrates the flavors and lends a depth of sweetness prized by many. Such wines that would pair well with Gulab Jamun would be…
…a French Sauternes, sweet with high acidity and high alcohol with apricots and citrus peel and notes of toast and vanilla,
【French Sauternes. Photo Credit：wine-searcher.com 】
…a German Trokenbeerenauslese, sweet with low alcohol and flavors of honey, dried stone fruit (peaches and nectarines), candied peel,
【German Trokenbeerenauslese. Photo Credit: wine-searcher.com】
…a Hungarian Tokaji Aszu, sweet with deep amber color and high acidity with aromas and flavors of orange peel, apricot, and honey,
【Hungarian Tokaji Aszu. Photo Courtesy of Ronald Jan, M. D.】
…a South African Vin de Constance (Constantia) from late harvest Muscat de Frontignan, sweet with notes of honey, apricot, pressed flowers, kumquat, and quince,
【Vin de Constance. Photo Credit: wine-searcher.com】
and
…a French Coteau du Layon’s Chaume in the Loire Valley sweet with floral aromas & flavors of stone fruit (e.g., peaches).
【Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley’s Coteau du Layon. Photo Credit: totalwine.com】
No doubt, this sweet Gulab Jamun could pair up well with any of these sweet dessert wines as well as….
…a fortified sweet wine such as Australia’s Rutherglen fortified Muscat, luscious & sweet, amber to brown in color with notes of oxidative aromas of raisins, apricot, and dried fruit.
【Australia’s Rutherglen Muscat available at Corti Bros.in Sacramento. Photo Courtesy of Ronald Jan, M. D.】
Whichever dessert wine people decide to pair with the very sweet Indian Gulab Jamun, it will be a wonderfully sweet way to celebrate light over darkness with family and friend.
About the author: Dr. Ronald G. Jan who specializes in Vascular Surgery is a Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine. As a hobby, he holds WSET level 3 certification in wines and has been writing and publishing wine commentaries attracting lots of readers.
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【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, October 11, 2022】The pandemic may have altered adults’ personalities over time, according to new survey results.The pandemic may have altered adults’ personalities over time, according to new survey results. (Photo credit: Soroptimist International)
Adults became less extroverted, open, agreeable and conscientious during the pandemic, a new study found.
The results, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, showed that the degree of change was roughly equivalent to a decade’s worth of average personality changes. Young adults in particular grew moodier, more emotional and more sensitive to stress in 2021 compared to years past, according to the study.
The survey was based on the Big Five traits, a common way researchers evaluate personalities. Participants were scored according to their levels of neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.
During the 2020 period, the responses were fairly consistent with those gathered before Covid emerged. But the researchers saw significant changes during the 2021-2022 period, suggesting that the collective stress of the pandemic affected people's dispositions over time.
Past research has already demonstrated that personalities can change as we age or develop new habits like exercising. Often as people get older, they become less neurotic, extroverted and open, but more agreeable and conscientious, said Angelina Sutin, the study’s lead author and a professor at Florida State University.
But from 2021 to 2022, adults ages 64 and under saw declines in extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Adults under 30 also saw an increase in neuroticism in that period, though other age groups did not.
"Becoming more mature is declining in neuroticism and increasing in agreeableness and conscientiousness, and we see the opposite for younger adults in the second year of the pandemic," Sutin said.
Adults above age 65, however, didn't see significant personality changes relative to pre-pandemic years.
"The older you get, the more of a sense of identity you have, the more entrenched you are in your social roles. You know more who you are, so things are going to affect you less in some ways," said Rodica Damian, an associate professor of social psychology at the University of Houston, who wasn't involved in the research.
William Revelle, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, pointed out that the observed personality changes could also stem, in part, from other social and political events happening during the time period studied.
“There was an election. There was a riot. There were major shootings and major protests,” said Revelle, who was also not involved in the study.
But he added that although it's impossible to separate those influences from the effects of the pandemic, "Covid was one of the major stressors hitting everyone — that was the main thing that kept people home."
(Source: CBS News)
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