Bill Text: NJ A4397 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides gross income tax deduction for expenses incurred by disabled veterans for service animals.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee [A4397 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4397-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VICTORIA A. FLYNN
District 13 (Monmouth)
Assemblyman GERRY SCHARFENBERGER
District 13 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Provides gross income tax deduction for expenses incurred by disabled veterans for service animals.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act providing a gross income tax deduction for certain expenses incurred by disabled veterans and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 54A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Except as otherwise authorized for medical expenses incurred by a taxpayer pursuant to N.J.S.54A:3-3, a taxpayer who is a disabled veteran and owns a service animal shall be allowed a deduction from the taxpayer's gross income, in an amount not to exceed $5,000, for the expenses incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year for purchasing, training, or maintaining a service animal. Eligible maintenance expenses shall include purchases of food, grooming, and veterinary care.
b. A taxpayer who is entitled to a deduction pursuant to this section shall submit a claim, accompanied by proof of the right to such a deduction, in a manner provided by the Division of Taxation.
c. As used in this section:
"Disabled veteran" means any resident of the State who has been honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States and who has been or shall be declared by the United States Veterans Administration, or its successor, to have a service-connected disability.
"Service animal" shall have the same meaning as set forth in the federal "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990," 42 U.S.C. s.12101 et seq., and any regulations promulgated thereunder.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2024.
STATEMENT
This bill provides a gross income tax deduction of up to $5,000 for certain expenses incurred by a disabled veteran taxpayer related to the purchasing, training, or maintaining a service animal. Eligible maintenance expenses for a service animal would include purchases of food, grooming, and veterinary care.
Under current law, certain taxpayers are permitted to claim a deduction for the portion of certain medical expenses incurred related to the maintenance of service animals. The deduction authorized in this bill would be allowed for any qualifying costs incurred by a disabled veteran that are not already deductible as an eligible medical expense.
A "disabled veteran" is defined under the bill as any resident of the State who has been honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service in the United States Armed Forces and who has a service-connected disability, as determined by the United States Veteran's Administration.
Under the bill, the term "service animal" has the same meaning as is defined under the federal "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990," 42 U.S.C. s.12101 et seq. and any regulations promulgated under the act. Currently, federal regulations at 28 CFR 35.104 define "service animal" to mean "any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability." Federal regulations further require the work or tasks performed by the service to be directly related to the individual's disability.
