Tax department warns unpaid caregiver credit in S.51 would be hard to verify

At a House Ways & Means Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 13, Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Samoroff of the Vermont Department of Taxes told committee members that the unpaid caregiver tax credit in S.51 would be difficult for the department to verify and administer.

Samoroff, who testified for the department, said the proposal relies heavily on claimant attestations for eligibility and that “it's a really complex idea to administer as a tax program.” She warned that many eligibility elements — including proving the absence of compensation and documenting that a caregiver spends 20 hours a week on care — lack a paper trail the department could use to validate claims.

The nut graf: lawmakers considering S.51 are weighing a refundable state credit aimed at unpaid family caregivers against practical limits of tax administration, department staff capacity and fraud-prevention tools; Samoroff…