GREENSBORO, N.C. — There's a lot of things we didn't do in 2020 but if you:
Missed work to take care of kids because schools or daycare were closed
Missed work to care for someone sick or quarantined
Missed work because you were sick or quarantined due to COVID-19
You're self-employed
The IRS has a tax credit for you. You’ll need Form 7202, it’s for self-employed individuals to claim COVID sick and family leave tax credits under the FFRCA, Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
There are instructions on how to calculate the sick leave or family leave amount, but both the sick leave and family leave credits to start with a basic question: What is the number of days you were unable to perform services.
“You have mothers taking care of their kids and mothers taking care of parents and grandparents and we need to support them so we can keep them working. We advocate for more support for caregivers and more leave and this IRS tax credit is a version of that. We need to be able to recognize that financial loss when they're self-employed and need to do some caregiving,” says Lisa Riegel, AARP NC Manager of Advocacy.
AARP estimated there are 1.3 million people who are caregivers for a family member and get no pay for it. AARP totaled up their estimated caregiving time to $13 billion in wages if they did get paid.