How to get your Philly wage tax refund | Morning Newsletter
And the cops working the system
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Appreciate you starting off what’s going to be a sunny Tuesday in the high 30s with The Inquirer.
If you work for a company in Philly but live outside the city, you may be entitled to a city wage tax refund. Luckily we have a step-by-step guide on how to get yours.
And if you thought Philly’s controversial DROP program was rich, wait until you check out our investigation of police officers’ misuse of a little-known disability benefit.
— Kerith Gabriel (@sprtswtr, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
If you live outside city limits but work for a company here in Philly, online forms are now up to get a wage tax refund — especially if you worked primarily from home during the pandemic.
Here’s how to file for one:
Log on to tax-services.phila.gov or if you’re a pro, here’s a link to the wage tax form itself.
Get a letter from your employer to accompany your refund request. The letter — signed on company letterhead — must include the dates you were required to work outside Philadelphia. If you are a salaried employee, you’ll need your W-2 form.
All wage tax refund requests can be submitted online. You don’t need a username and password to request a refund on the Philadelphia Tax Center site, but it may help to set up an account if you also need to pay other city taxes.
Then you wait! It typically takes six to eight weeks for your refund to be sent.
The city created a video explaining the process, and our reporter Erin Arvelund broke down the entire process for your refund-obtaining pleasure.
What you should know today
A Philly nursing home is one of four sites across the state that will receive extra beds in an effort to ease the burden on area hospitals.
Adara L. Combs, a former prosecutor who spent more than a decade in the DA’s Office, now heads Philly’s Office of the Victim Advocate.
As for Larry Krasner’s office, it spearheaded a new division aimed at putting more juveniles involved in nonviolent crimes in rehabilitation instead of punishment.
Workers at a pair of Starbucks in Philly are trying to unionize, mirroring a national trend within the coffee chain.
Shoutout to the Sixers’ Joel Embiid, who didn’t play last night but was still named the NBA’s Eastern Conference player of the week.
We caught up with Philly jazz and funk legend Jamaaladeen Tacuma for quite the riveting conversation.
With heart disease now the No. 1 killer of women, it’s time to get in tune with your cardiac health.
Local Coronavirus Numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.
It’s called the Heart and Lung Act, a disability benefit meant mostly for police and firefighters. It’s supposed to help those who have been injured on the job keep their salaries and benefits, and it even comes with an exemption from paying state and federal taxes.
But as an Inquirer investigation revealed, the number of cops out on disability has grown exponentially. How much? Before the law was enacted in 2003, Philadelphia recorded just 19 officers out on injured disability. Today? 645 — with some holding down injury claims that have lasted years.
But that’s just part of the story. Some officers have exploited the benefit by holding down second jobs while purportedly out on disability. Officers like Alfie Williams, who gets 100% of his $78,092 salary tax-free but is listed on LinkedIn as the owner of a roofing company in Langhorne. A Police Department directive prohibits officers out on Heart and Lung claims from working any other job in any capacity.
Our reporters Barbara Laker, David Gambacorta and William Bender jump into the deep end to deliver this tale of exploitation and deceit.
🧠 Philly Trivia Time 🧠
In honor of the start of Black History Month, we’re going routinely to use our trivia section all month to provide a bit of education, Philly style. Today’s question: Octavius Catto, the freedom fighter and abolitionist forever memorialized with a statue outside City Hall, rallied troops to fight in the Civil War with what other notable abolitionist and activist? Take a guess and find the answer and more on Catto’s life here.
a. Harriet Tubman
b. Frederick Douglass
c. George Washington Carver
What we’re …
😯 Realizing: The amount of manufactured snow on the mountains of China due to climate change ahead of the Winter Olympics, which start this week in Beijing.
📚 Reading: This deep dive on Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.
🐘 Planning: A trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, which opens for the season on Friday.
Photo of the day
That’s it for Tuesday. Until tomorrow…✌️