Many Americans receive disability income. If you’re one of them or know someone who is, you may wonder whether it’s taxable. As is often the case with tax questions, the answer is “it depends.”
Key factor
The key factor is who paid the disability income (or who paid for the disability insurance funding the income). If the income is paid directly to you by your employer, it’s taxable to you as ordinary salary or wages would be. Taxable disability benefits are also subject to federal income tax withholding, though, depending on the disability plan, they sometimes aren’t subject to Social Security tax.
Frequently, disability payments aren’t made by the employer but by an insurer under a policy providing disability coverage or under an arrangement having the effect of accident or health insurance. In such cases, the tax treatment depends on who paid for the coverage. If your employer paid for it, then the income is taxable to you just as if paid directly to you by the employer. On the other hand, if it’s a policy you paid for, the payments you receive under it aren’t taxable.
Even if your employer arranges for the coverage (in other words, it’s a policy made available to you at work), the benefits aren’t taxed to you if you pay the premiums. For these purposes, if the premiums are paid by the employer but the amount paid is included as part of your taxable income from work, the premiums are treated as paid by you.
Two examples
Let’s say your salary is $1,000 a week ($52,000 a year). Under a disability insurance arrangement made available to you by your employer, $10 a week ($520 for the year) is paid on your behalf by your employer to an insurance company. A total of $52,520 is included in income as your wages for the year on your W-2 form: the $52,000 paid to you plus the $520 in disability insurance premiums. In this case, the insurance is treated as paid for by you. If you become disabled and receive benefits, they aren’t taxable income to you.
Now, let’s look at an example with the same facts as above but with one exception: Only $52,000 is included in income as your wages for the year on your W-2 because the amount paid for the insurance coverage qualifies as excludable under the rules for employer-provided health and accident plans. In this case, the insurance is treated as paid for by your employer. If you become disabled and receive benefits, they are taxable income to you.
Note: There are special rules in the case of a permanent loss (or loss of the use) of a part or function of the body, or a permanent disfigurement.
Any questions?
This discussion doesn’t cover the tax treatment of Social Security disability benefits, which may be taxed under different rules. Contact us if you’d like to discuss this further or have questions about regular disability income.