As with most other things having to do with taxes and your tax return, the answer to, “Is my disability pension taxable?” is, “It depends.” Getting your maximum refund will depend on knowing the details of your own particular situation. You must claim as income on your tax return disability pension from a plan that your employer paid for. It goes on line 7 of Form 1040 or Form 1040A when you do your taxes. The day after you turn minimum retirement age, the payments you receive are taxable as a pension or annuity and not wages. However, if you receive payments in lump-sum for accrued annual leave, do not count these as disability payments, even if you retired on disability. Pay very close attention to every payment that you receive so that your tax refund won’t be impacted. Whether or not you get that maximum refund depends on how you report the money you receive. TaxSlayer.com tax software can help, of course, but it still helps to know the basics. For instance, you may be able to exclude from your income any disability pension associated with serving in the Armed Forces of any country, and certain non-military government service as well. You do not need to include as income any disability payments you get for injuries from a terrorist or military action. These are only a few of the scenarios you may see if you receive disability payments, and how they may affect your tax refund. Check out TaxSlayer.com’s Help Center for a complete resource to our help articles.

Even though Tax Day is over, you may still have some things to do in order to keep things square with the IRS and to stay on top of your income tax refund. 1. Check on your refund. You can check the status of your income tax refund 72 hours after the IRS accepts it. Here is how: (1) Go to TaxSlayer.com and click on the link ‘Where’s My Refund’ located at the bottom of the home page. (2) call (800) 829-4477 anytime, day or night; (3) call (800) 829-1954. 2. File your 2010 tax records. You will need to keep a copy of your tax return and other records for at least three years after you e-file. Put them in a safe place where you can get to them easily – preferably a filing cabinet and/or an external hard drive. Make sure you have backups. Tax software helps a lot, but it can’t compensate for good recordkeeping. 3. Start keeping records for next year’s taxes. This includes itemized deductions, mileage, charitable donations– everything you do that will have an impact on your taxes so that you don’t forget important income tax deductions next year. You should try TaxSlayer.com’s My Deductions. You can access My Deductions once you log into your account. It will be found under ‘Other Items’ and it will keep track of your deductions throughout the year and they will pull into your return when you are ready to file next year! 4. Let the IRS know where you will be. If you move after filing, send them a Form 8822. 5. Fix mistakes on your return. If your return is rejected by the IRS, fix any errors and e-file it again. Remember to use TaxSlayer’s list of reject codes found in our Help Center if you need further assistance. If it is accepted, you will need to file an amended return. To do this with TaxSlayer.com tax software, click ‘File an Amended Return’ on the Main Menu. The first item on the menu will be step-by-step directions for filing an amended return. You will want to read those first before you begin.