Since Trump signed the $2.2 trillion “CARES Act” into law, millions of Americans - especially the roughly 1 in 10 who have lost their jobs during the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak - have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of their stimulus payments. While the first round of checks was direct-deposited into Americans’ bank accounts over the weekend, the rest of the money will be sent out - either digitally or via paper check - in the coming weeks.
If you’re curious about the status of your payment - or whether you’re slated to receive one - the IRS has created a web portal allowing Americans to ‘check on their check’.
Just go to the ‘Get My Payment’ page of the IRS’s website. You can find the link here.
To check the status, individuals will need their 2018 tax return, and their 2019 return, if they’ve already filed.
For anybody who’s still confused about eligibility, the “Economic Impact Payments” - which will act as one-time payments to tide people over until unemployment and other benefits kick in - could be as much as $1,200 for an individual and $2,400 for a couple. People with children are eligible for an additional $500 per child under the age of 17. The payments aren’t subject to taxes and won’t impact peoples’ tax returns for 2020.
Taxpayers who filed as “head of household” in the past will receive the full $1,200 if their income is less than $112,500. Payments will go out to heads of household whose income is as much as $136,500, with people earning less as their income moves closer to the cap.
If readers have other questions, the IRS has set up a Q&A page here.
Don’t spend it all in one place.
via zerohedge
If you used a tax preparation service like TurboTax or H&RBlock, you may never get your stimulus assistance payment; unless you file through them again this year.
The IRS has long-deferred services through private companies instead of developing their own web-based services.
Millions of Americans have paid billions of dollars to corporations for tax preparation they should have been able to get free of charge. This year, anyone who made under $69,000 does not need to pay to file; they are eligible to file taxes for free through an IRS program called Free File.
TurboTax does have links to the ‘free’ IRS service, but it’s rather misleading. They cleverly guide you into one of their paid portals by not labeling the IRS ‘link’ properly.
Americans who desperately need checks to help cushion the coronavirus crash are being targeted by big-money companies all over again.
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here