Question: I went out to the Hawaii Kai library on a recent Friday to take advantage of the AARP’s free tax preparation service. On eavesdropping on one of the volunteers going over the checklist with another senior before me, I realized I was missing one document: Form 1099-G, the statement for refund of state and local income taxes. I thought I had everything and was sure I had gotten it in the mail. I asked the senior next to me if he had his, and he said yes. I asked to be crossed off the waiting list and said I will have to return another day. When I got home I called my sister and asked if she had received the Hawaii State Form 1099-G. She hadn’t. Has the state failed to send out the Form 1099-G forms to all state taxpayers to date?
Answer: It’s a shame that you left without waiting to speak to the tax preparer. Hawaii’s Department of Taxation says these forms were mailed in January and that not every taxpayer receives one, even if they got a refund. You are not the only reader who has inquired, so we asked Deborah Kwan, a spokeswoman for the department, to explain:
“Only taxpayers who itemized their deductions on their federal income tax return and received a tax refund from Hawaii for $10 or greater in 2018 were issued a 1099-G from the Hawaii Department of Taxation. The 1099-G forms were mailed to those taxpayers in late January. Taxpayers who took the standard deduction and did not itemize do not need to report their tax refund amount on their income tax turns. If a taxpayer did itemize their deductions and received a Hawaii tax refund, but has not received a 1099-G from the department yet, or they believe they should have received a 1099-G but did not get one, they may call the department at 587-4242.”
Besides state or local income tax refunds, the 1099-G also reports unemployment compensation received in the applicable tax year.
Q: What is that number we are supposed to call to clean up the tents? King Street is so bad you can barely get to the Biki bikes.
A: Call 768-4381 to report personal property illegally stored on city streets, sidewalks, parks and other areas within the municipal government’s jurisdiction. We’ve received several complaints recently about tents blocking the sidewalk on the makai side of South King Street between McCully and Isenberg streets, near when a bike rental stand was installed.
Consumer education fair
Representatives from about two dozen government or nonprofit agencies will provide free information at an event marking National Consumer Protection Week. The fair is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday in the courtyard of the King Kalakaua Building, 335 Merchant St., according to a news release from the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which is hosting the event.
DCCA Director Catherine Awakuni Colón described the fair as a “one-stop shop” for information to help people protect their privacy, manage their money and avoid identity theft, fraud and scams.
Auwe
Auwe to myself. I was on King Street, crossing lanes of traffic to turn mauka on Elsie Lane. I did not see a bicyclist in the bike lane and almost hit him. As a former bicyclist, I should have been more alert to bicyclists in the lane. I urge drivers to be alert for bicyclists when turning into the many small lanes off King Street. — A reader
Mahalo
A belated mahalo to Denise, Chris and Simon for helping my wife when she fell at Ala Moana Center. They put her up on a chair because she couldn’t get up, stopped the bleeding from a head wound and called an ambulance. — Grateful senior
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
