My boss every once in a while has to do certain paperwork for health insurance, and one of the things involves coordination of care between Medicare and our insurance. For some reason, my name came up this year and she had to fill out some online forms.
She had to make a note if for any reason she couldn’t complete filling out the forms, and there was a drop down list of reasons she could choose from.
I’ve taken a vow if poverty but I am not a nun. Well, not so much a vow of poverty as a lifestyle choice. Actually, not so much a lifestyle choice as I really don’t have much money, but will that still get me out of having to fill out forms?
I remember our parish priest one time saying that he wasn’t required to pay into Social Security, but that it wouldn’t be available for him if he chose to opt out. He contributed, because his mother was receiving benefits and he only thought it fair. So apparently, vow of poverty is a justified excuse.
Yes, members of religious orders who have taken a vow of poverty are exempt from paying Social Security taxes. I forget exactly what the regulations are regarding this, but I remember having to look it up a few times back when I worked for Social Security.
In the Canadian income tax form, on line 256, “Additional deductions,” there is a similar space to account for one’s having taken a vow of perpetual poverty.
Some years ago, I worked for a radiology practice that had the contract for the local Catholic health system. Many of the people who worked there were nuns who were covered by the health system’s group Blue Cross policy. We had a policy of writing off whatever balance was left over because we had a copy of a letter on file that explained that the nuns had taken a vow of poverty. Or, as my boss put it, “Any friend of God’s is a friend of ours.”