Benefits for veterans
As many as 22 veterans commit suicide each day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. That’s why discussing the benefits available to them is so important. In this article, we’ll look at some of the top benefits for veterans and help you understand how they can be applied to your life.
7 Amazing Benefits for Veterans That You May Not Know About
Many employers provide hiring bonuses and other benefits to military veterans to recruit and retain employees. An additional consideration is that, on average, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) will pay more than $400 million in tax refunds to military spouses as they file their income taxes yearly.
Child Care Assistance
Veterans may qualify for daycare assistance if they meet the program’s requirements, including household income and family size. Veterans may also be eligible for child care vouchers from the VA if they served honorably during a war or conflict and have been rated with an individual unemployability rating by the VA due to physical disability or illness related to their service.
Long-Term Care and Housing
Unlike past wars, the U.S. does not provide robust support to returning service members after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that troops are returning home, communities must step up and offer the support that is so critical to help these heroes reintegrate into civilian life. This video discusses benefits for veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families, including long-term care insurance, housing assistance, educational opportunities, and more.
Veteran Homes
The Benefits Coordination & Counseling Service (BCCS) is an important organization that assists veterans in acquiring a home. The BCCS helps Veterans and their families decide on the kind of house they want, linking them up with lenders and insurance companies and providing advice on which benefits they are eligible for.
Tax Preparation
Every year, it’s time to fill out your income taxes, and this is a particularly tough process for military service members trying to file their taxes from a combat zone. That’s why there are special tax benefits just for our military heroes. You may not know that your first $100,000 of active duty income is free from federal taxes. If you make more, you can use the IRS Foreign Earned Income Exclusion or FEIE on up to $250,000 of your earned income. You might also qualify for the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion. Which protects any combat pay or special pay (including hazardous duty pay) earned in a designated combat zone.
Life Insurance
Because of the risk, Veteran’s life insurance rates are often set on a decreasing scale from 20 to 80+ years old. Rates increase as you get older. But it also gives Veterans the chance to earn discounts when they start their lives young. For example, if a Veteran is 21 years old and joins at 30, they will be a member of that 30-year age bracket until they reach 41. When they turn 42 and are re-evaluated with new premiums. They will now be in the 40-year age bracket until retirement. The only thing that could affect rates is an overweight surcharge if your BMI exceeds 25.
Mortgage and Loan Assistance
At Benefit, we understand the needs of military servicemen and women transitioning back to civilian life. We offer a variety of mortgage loan programs that provide specialized assistance to our U.S. Armed Forces members and their families with their purchase or refinance of a new home. Whether they’ve just been discharged or have served in the military for decades. Our low down payment programs allow qualified borrowers to finance 100% of the cost of a new home. Including closing costs and prepaid, with no money down at settlement if certain conditions are met. Benefit also offers FHA loans, VA loans (which don’t require mortgage insurance), Jumbo loans (higher than conforming loan limits), and many more!
Caregiver Support
It is difficult to serve your country and then come home to worry about making ends meet. And, if you’ve taken care of others as part of your military service, it can be even more challenging. But some resources can help. For example, the VA provides a variety of programs and services to ease the transition from the military back into civilian life:
The VetSuccess on Campus initiative gives veterans who attend college or other post-secondary institution access to benefits counseling, mental health treatment, career planning, leadership training, and employment opportunities in federal agencies. Another VA program makes customized Veterans Support Group networks available daily at most major medical centers through its War-Related Stress Counseling program.
Burial and Memorial Benefits
Although these benefits vary by the military branch, all veterans receive burial in a national cemetery. Those who wish to designate another person to be buried with them can choose to purchase family plots. In addition, some stipulations allow certain dependents of deceased service members to be buried in the same location. Including spouses, parents, and adopted children under the age of 18.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for providing military honors. Such as guards at funerals and appropriate flags on caskets. All veteran funerals include iced flag draping and burial with military honors, though most families opt out of this honor due to cost and time constraints.
