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February marks the opening of Tax-Aide sites around Alaska. The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program is designed to prepare basic tax returns and anyone can use the service regardless of age or income. Sites are staffed by volunteers who are trained and certified by Internal Revenue Service and AARP Foundation instructors to prepare basic tax returns. By using AARP Foundation Tax-Aide, these taxpayers also avoid tax preparation fees and pitches for high-interest tax credit or refund loans. And the service is free. Below are the dates and hours for...
This tax season, Better Business Bureau Northwest & Pacific warns the public about the dangers of tax identity theft. The public is urged to be vigilant with their personal information so they don’t fall victim of tax identity theft. Here’s how the scam works Tax identity theft occurs when someone gets access to your Social Security number and uses it to get a tax refund or job. You’ll discover it occurred when you receive a letter from the IRS stating more than one tax return was filed in your name, or IRS records show you have wages from...
Anchorage and Fairbanks area-seniors can now sign up for winter session classes offered by Opportunities for Lifelong Education (OLÉ) in Anchorage, and the Osher for Lifelong Learning (OLLI) in Fairbanks. For 2018, OLÉ offers a fascinating roster of interesting courses for the winter term. Beginning Jan. 8, classes run four or eight weeks, with additional four-week courses beginning Feb. 6. Whether it’s “Learn to Read Music,” “Crafting a Mystery,” or “The Sociology of Food,” there’s something for everyone. Learning “Social Media Basics” or “Ala...
The Senior Environmental Employment Program, also known as SEE, assists the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal, state and local agencies in meeting their environmental mandates by using the talents and experience of workers 55 years of age and older. In the 1970s, farsighted EPA staff recognized that experienced workers age 55 and older were extremely underrated. As a result, the EPA created the concept of what was to become a national showcase for the skills of mid-career and older professionals who are now acknowledged...
Interested in learning more about businesses and agencies providing senior services in the Anchorage area? Want to get the word out about your own service? The monthly Interagency Breakfast, sponsored by Older Persons Action Group, is an opportunity for all the above. Informal, early and free, with breakfast provided. The January meeting is Jan. 10, hosted by Maxim Healthcare Services. Begins at 8 a.m. RSVP by calling Older Persons Action Group, Inc. for more information on these events or to be added to our e-mail reminder list,...
SStaff from Alaska’s Social Security office will be available for questions via videoconferencing at the following locations and times: Kodiak Job Center, on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month (Jan. 9 and 23), 9 a.m. to noon. Kenai Senior Center, on the first and third Wednesday of each month (Jan. 3 and 17), 9 a.m. to noon. Ketchikan Job Center, every Thursday (Jan. 4, 11, 18 and 25), noon to 3 p.m. Social Security provides toll-free telephone service to all of Alaska. Residents in Alaska’s Southeast communities can call the Jun...
Delving into our family history has become a big pastime for many Americans. TV is full of ads about finding long lost relatives, discovering connections you didn’t know about, and even testing your DNA. So of course, this trend caught the attention of thieves who tap into any interest they can weasel into. A few years ago, scammers were busted, using well-known genealogy sites as a way to glean details they could use to steal identities – of the living and the dead. Now, they’re working on a newer (but not new) set of schemes. Who’s your gr...
Editor’s note: This press release was received Nov. 9, 2017. Since the tax brackets and the standard deduction wouldn’t grow as fast as in the past, more people will get pushed into higher tax brackets more quickly when their income rises, under proposed legislation on Congress. The legislation would use a more slowly growing measure of inflation, the Chained Consumer Price Index, to make adjustments. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act being pushed in Congress would eliminate many important tax deductions that older Americans rely on to reduce their tax...
My name is Mike Coons and I am the President of the Alaska Chapter to the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). I write to inform those Alaskan Mature Citizens that AMAC is alive and well in Alaska and we have had our first meeting in November. We will be meeting the second Saturday of each month. We are in the process of finding a regular venue, thus I will be announcing those meeting in the near future. AMAC is a conservative organization so that mature Americans, in our case specifically Alaska citizens, can have a conservative...
The Remembrance Tree is an annual memorial ritual provided by Hospice of Anchorage that has been a part of the Anchorage community since the 1980s. It initially began as one tree at 5th Avenue Mall for many years until the last few years a second location was added at the Dimond Center. The Remembrance Trees allow individuals an opportunity around the holidays to honor the memory of a loved one or memorialize a friend, while supporting the work of Hospice of Anchorage. It begins on Black Friday...
The Alaska Commission on Aging (ACoA) will hold its quarterly meeting Dec. 12 via videoconference and teleconference from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The videoconference sites for the quarterly meeting are: Anchorage: Senior and Disabilities Services, 550 West 8th Ave., Room 143 (907-269-3666) Fairbanks: Senior and Disabilities Services, 751 Old Richardson Hwy., Suite 100A (907-451-5045) Juneau: Senior and Disabilities Services, 240 Main Street, 6th Floor Conference Room (907-465-3372) Kodiak: Kodiak Public Library, 612 Egan Way (907-486-8688) Group...
FICA. Grrrrrr! Every time we get a paycheck most of us see the deduction for Social Security taken out of our earnings. It seems relentless and unfair, and to what end? It may be reasonable to think that because the one highly visible aspect of Social Security is the periodic deduction from the paycheck. But there is another story. Social Security pays benefits to nearly 92,000 Alaskans. That’s about 1 of every 8 residents in the state. These are not just a random selection of Alaskans. These are often Alaskans who would be in desperate f...
Staff from Alaska’s Social Security office will be available for questions via videoconferencing at the following locations and times: Kodiak Job Center, on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month (Dec. 12 and 26), 9 a.m. to noon. Kenai Senior Center, on the first and third Wednesday of each month (Dec. 6 and 20), 9 a.m. to noon. Ketchikan Job Center, every Thursday (Dec. 7, 14, 21, 28), noon to 3 p.m. Social Security provides toll-free telephone service to all of Alaska. Residents in Alaska’s Southeast communities can call the Juneau Soc...
Getting ready for retirement requires evaluation of all your sources of retirement income. Even if you worked for the government and didn’t pay the FICA tax on your earnings, you may be eligible for benefits from your spouse’s work under Social Security. However, when you receive both your own non-covered government pension and a Social Security spousal benefit, your Social Security benefit may be reduced. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduces your Social Security benefit by two-thirds of your government pension. Why are benefits reduced?...
Alaska AARP Foundation Tax-Aide needs new volunteers for the up-coming tax season. Tax volunteers must complete 40 hours of tax preparation classes that are taught by IRS-certified instructors. Lack of experience should not stop anyone from volunteering. You will learn where to input the information in the program and the software program does the rest. Materials for the course are provided by the IRS and AARP Foundation. Beginning classes will start in December for Anchorage, and in the Mat-Su Valley they will be held Saturdays, Jan. 6-27....
The Trump administration is planning to end another Obama-era regulation involving nursing homes, which was designed to shield the elderly from unscrupulous, abusive or bad nursing home practices. At the end of the Obama administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rules that would’ve made it easier for nursing home residents or their families to take facilities to court over alleged abuse, neglect or sexual assault. Now, Trump is proposing to replace that rule with one that could make it almost impossible for n...
Last year’s holiday shopping season brought about 57 percent of shoppers to their computers and smartphones to find deals. The convenience and cost savings of shopping online are enticing to us… and irresistible to the criminals who see this as their heyday. More shoppers looking to avoid the crowds means more opportunity for thieves. That’s why Consumer Reports provided some steps to enhance the security of your online shopping. Here’s what they say, based on advice from Raymond Pucci, of the Mercator Advisory Group consulting firm. Find ou...
Anchorage is transitioning to Vote by Mail elections. This is an exciting advancement for our local Anchorage elections. Vote by Mail jurisdictions keep regular voters engaged, encourage new voter participation, and capture fraud attempts by verifying signatures. Anchorage began exploring alternative voting options in 2014 at the direction of Ernie Hall, former Chair, Anchorage Assembly Ethics and Election Committee. Former Assembly Member Hall had three concerns with Anchorage Municipal Elections. First, low voter turnout: voter participation...
I moved to Alaska in 1982 to take a job in a fledgling nonprofit organization. By 1988 I had blundered into a teaching position at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Among other benefits included with the job was a traditional pension. At the time, I was a young man more interested in a paycheck. “Pension shmension” -- who cared? Now I am an older guy who has been retired several years. That reliable monthly pension check is by far the biggest part of my income, more than double my Social Security income. The life my wife and I lead as old...
More than 25 percent of possible sexual and physical abuse cases against nursing home patients were not reported to police, warns a new government audit. The Health and Human Services inspector general’s office issued an unusual “early alert” recently, based on preliminary findings from a large sampling of cases in 33 states. The IG’s report blamed Medicare for failing to enforce federal law, which requires that nursing homes immediately notify the police in abuse cases. Investigators issued the early warning because they found that the res...
Holiday hiring is already underway and Better Business Bureau Serving the Northwest reports employment scams are trending up from last year. In 2016, more than 1,900 employment scams were reported to BBB Scam Tracker, resulting in more than $730,000 lost. From January to September 2017, there have been nearly 1,400 scams reported resulting in more than $635,000 lost. In the past two years on average, 54 percent of employment scams were reported from September to the end of December. With a few more months left in 2017 and the holiday hiring...
We saw the devastation from Hurricane Harvey and then monster storm Irma. It’s not just rain, wind and flooding that leads to a disaster, it’s also earthquakes, landslides and fires. You just never know when severe weather will strike, you never know when you’ll have to jump in your car and evacuate, or rush down into the basement or other safe space. Here are some quick tips to get you started. A more complete version can be found on my website at www.suzycohen.com. Medications. Keep a handwritten list in your wallet. Even better (if you h...
For now, Social Security is in the black. In 2016 the Social Security Administration (SSA) took in income of $957 billion, which includes interest income. During the same year, it had total expenditures of $922 billion, adding $35 billion to its asset reserves. The reserves together with new income that is projected, should be enough to cover SSA’s costs for another 10 years. But unless something changes, by 2022 the expenditures will start to outpace the income, gradually gobbling up the reserves. Who’s collecting Social Security benefits now?...
Staff from Alaska’s Social Security office will be available for questions via videoconferencing at the following locations and times: Kodiak Job Center, on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month (Oct. 10 and 24), 9 a.m. to noon. Kenai Senior Center, on the first and third Wednesday of each month (Oct. 4 and 18), 9 a.m. to noon. Ketchikan Job Center, every Thursday (Oct. 5, 12, 19 and 26), noon to 3 p.m. Social Security provides toll-free telephone service to all of Alaska. Residents in Alaska’s Southeast communities can call the Jun...
In a community with strong volunteers, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) hosted by the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Inc. (APIA) can attest to the unified, strong and community-minded senior volunteer pool that drives this effort. The RSVP program at APIA is rounding its third year in the Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Within the first three years this program has started from scratch to build a program that offers opportunities for seniors age 55 years and...
