Survivors will receive extra money

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RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Congress is making death and taxes a little bit less painful by giving extra money to families of deceased airmen.

Families of almost 500 airmen who died on active duty since Sept. 10, 2001, are receiving an additional $6,000 beyond the death benefits they originally received. They will also be reimbursed for taxes already paid on those benefits.

According to the new law, families of all servicemembers who die on active duty will now receive $12,000 tax free, regardless of the circumstance of the death. Commonly called the “death gratuity,” it had been set at $6,000 since 1991. Half of that amount was previously taxable.

The money is paid to families to help pay for expenses associated with the death, said Air Force Personnel Center officials here.

Air Force officials are working with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to ensure the 490 families of airmen who died since the effective date get the additional money as quickly as possible, said Scott Hand from the Air Force casualty operations office here. They will be given instructions on how to file for reimbursement of taxes already paid, he said.

The Military Family Tax Relief Act was signed recently by President George W. Bush.

"This is a welcome benefit Congress has given us," Hand said. "Families of people who die on active duty now know that they will see a full $12,000 to help with expenses and they don't have to worry about being taxed for it."

Families of some airmen who had died within 120 days of retiring also qualify for the payments, Hand said.

Families are first notified of an airman's death through the information each airman records on the virtual record of emergency data. The record can be updated online from work or home via the virtual Military Personnel Flight at www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/vs/. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service)