ABLE Account Louisiana: A Savings Plan for People with Disabilities

The ABLE Account Louisiana is a fantastic savings plan designed for individuals with disabilities. It allows them to save up to $15,000 per year without jeopardizing their government benefits.

You can open an ABLE account in Louisiana with a minimum initial deposit of $25. This account can be opened online or through a financial institution in the state.

The funds in an ABLE account can be used for qualified disability expenses, such as education, employment training, and assistive technology.

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ABLE Savings Account is a tax-free savings option for individuals with significant disabilities. It's designed to help families save for disability-related expenses without risking the loss of other public benefits.

ABLE stands for Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, and it allows families to save for qualified disability expenses without jeopardizing Medicaid and Social Security benefits.

You can use ABLE account funds for a wide variety of disability-related expenses, including housing, transportation, tuition, support services, health, prevention, and wellness, and more.

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Note that when withdrawing money to pay for housing, it's best to do so as close to the payment due date as possible to avoid affecting your SSI benefits.

Here are the three main account types available in Louisiana:

If you use the funds to pay an expense that's not qualified, you'll face a 10% tax penalty, and the withdrawal will be taxed as income.

To qualify for an ABLE account in Louisiana, you must be a citizen of the state with a valid social security number. You'll also need to meet one of the two requirements listed below.

Developing a disability before the age of 26 and being eligible for SSDI are both requirements for an ABLE account. Alternatively, your intended designated beneficiary can provide a signed diagnosis from a physician proving disability, which can be submitted to the LA ABLE program or the IRS.

The funds in an ABLE account won't disqualify you from means-based public benefits, whereas a normal account would. This includes Federal and State benefit programs, such as Social Security Income and Medicaid.

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To give you a better idea of the eligibility criteria, here are the two main requirements:

You can use the funds in your ABLE account to pay for a wide variety of disability-related expenses, including housing, transportation, tuition, and health expenses.

Approved expenses include housing, transportation, tuition, support services, health, prevention, and wellness, and legal fees.

To avoid affecting your SSI benefits, make sure to withdraw money from the account as close to the payment due date as possible when paying for housing.

Using the funds for an unqualified expense will result in a taxed withdrawal and a 10% tax penalty.

Qualifying disability categories include those that are eligible for public benefits like Medicaid and Social Security.

Here are some examples of qualified expenses:

Louisiana ABLE accounts allow eligible residents with disabilities to build up tax-free savings without losing other government-provided benefits.

There are three main account types available: Short Term Liquidity, Short to Intermediate Term Income, and Long Term Investment.

You can save up to $17,000 per year in an ABLE account, which is a significant amount of money that can help you achieve your financial goals.

The funds in an ABLE account won't disqualify you from means-based public benefits, such as Social Security Income and Medicaid, as long as you don't exceed $17,000 in a year.

A key difference between an ABLE account and a trust is that an ABLE account can contain assets and funds that belong to the disabled individual, whereas a trust can only contain assets that never belonged to the beneficiary.

Here are the three main account types available in Louisiana ABLE accounts:

The main benefit of an ABLE account is that it allows you to save money without losing your public benefits, which can be a huge relief for individuals with disabilities and their families.