13th Payment in 2011 - How to Handle?

[muirhouse]

Hi Debbie,

How does one handle the extra paycheck attributed to 2011 (even though it was received on the same day of the month it always comes, in this case January 3rd, 2012).  IRS counts it as 2011 income, but since it was not available for payment of medical expenses in 2011, it could wreck havoc with countable income if I don't just ignore it.  Anyone else stymied by this?
Thanks for the help.

[Fit2009]

The VA Basic Pension with A&A is NONTAXABLE

[muirhouse]

Thanks Debbie, but this is NOT an extra Pension benefit, it is an extra retired income paycheck.  Retirees are getting 13 paychecks in 2011, because the January 1st payment is thrown back to December 30th. So yearly countable income is higher by a whole paycheck that cannot be offset by your medical expenses because the payment was made on the last day of the month. (And really most of us still got these checks on the 3rd of January like normal), its is just that our 1099 from IRS now says we have a whole extra months pay in 2011.  So, all of a sudden we have too much income and cannot offset it by medical expenses! I just found out about this in November, and just now realized it throws a glitch in the works (maybe, unless I am missing something).

Can you help with this?  I am getting ready to send in the EVR and I don't want to do it wrong!