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I'm asking on behalf of my mother who is elderly and disabled. Her taxable income is exempt from state taxes. She never owes any state taxes and in the past the state has actually owed her, but she didn't file for 15 years since she did not owe anything and was not required to file.

Last year the state told her she has to start filing or they will fine her. So, she sent in the returns for the past 5 years. She got a notice back later saying that she had not sent the 2013 tax form and was going to be fined over $3k. The thing is, she sent the forms certified return receipt and got the receipts back to show they received the forms.

I contacted the Louisiana Department of Revenue to get clarification and (after getting disconnected at least 5 times) was told that they received the forms, but that one of the pages or forms was missing and she needed to re-send. She attempted to send it online numerous times but it would not go through. She had to print the forms out again and send them a second time-- certified return receipt again-- and got the receipts showing they arrived. We thought the matter was closed. Unfortunately, she just got her federal tax return notice only to find that they had garnished the entire return to pay her state taxes-- but she doesn't owe any state taxes. Any person owing $1k or more in taxes can have their drivers license suspended.

How can she go about getting the money refunded and getting the state to admit she doesn't owe them anything?

The veteran served two tours in VietNam and 20+ years in the reserves. He also served 30 years in federal law enforcement. He passed away at age 61 and had started receiving his military retirement pay. The widow has some mobility issues & is living off of his death benfits/retirement pay. She needs to renew her military dependent card, which expired several years ago, but does not live near a base and does not know what is needed to do so. What information does she need to provide to get her card renewed, and what forms does she need to fill out?

I know that income tax is calculated after FICA and standard deductions, but is state income tax calculated after the federal income tax has been calculated and removed? Or vice versa? Or are they both calculated independently of one another?

I'm trying to learn more about what constitutes taxable income.