The IRS has more information about the upcoming economic stimulus payments. Woohoo!
The IRS says:
Stimulus payments will be sent out in the order of the last two digits of the Social Security number used on the tax return.
Because the IRS will use the Social Security number to determine when checks are mailed, taxpayers may receive their checks at different times than their neighbors or other family members. On a jointly filed return, the first Social Security number listed will determine the mail-out time.
The IRS expects to make about 34 million payments within the first three weeks after the payment schedule begins May 2. With more than 130 million households expected to receive stimulus payments, more than 25 percent of the payments will be made in the first three weeks.
Taxpayers who choose direct deposit on their federal income tax returns can expect to receive their economic stimulus payments between May 2 and May 16 provided their returns were received and processed by April 15, 2008. For taxpayers who did not choose direct deposit on their tax return but whose returns were processed by April 15, the paper checks will be in the mail starting May 16, with the initial mailings completed by around July 11.
They also have an online calculator that you can use to figure out how much dough you’ll be receiving.
Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator [IRS]
IRS Announces Economic Stimulus Payment Schedules, Provides Online Payment Calculator [IRS]
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Question: Is this ‘free’ money, or is this just an advance on next year’s taxes?
Thanks!
Thanks everyone for clearing this up for me. I honestly thought this
was a pre-payment of your FY 2008 tax return. I appreciate getting
“learned” on the Consumerist.
Not eligible. WTF? So yes, don’t give a break to the hard working people making more than some retarded AGI limit they decided to set. I’m not looking for a handout but this is fucking ridiculous…pay more taxes and don’t even get a break…at least half of what everyone else is getting would be nice.
@DoubleEcho: You have to owe taxes to get the full amount, but I’m not sure exactly how they came up with that number for you.
@surgesilk: I completely agree this is the biggest load of bullshit ever. The people who ACTUALLY would spend the rebate on stimulating the economy don’t get any but rather the people who are probably going to use it to pay bills and or credit cards.
I don’t need the money at all so therefore if I got it, I’d blow it on some junk with no qualms.
@mobilehavoc: It’d be nice to make as much money as you do if you’re not eligible due to AGI limit, but you don’t hear me whining.
Anyway, the purpose of the rebate is “economic stimulus”, supposedly. So it’s irrelevant how much more in taxes you pay.
hmm we get the full $2100 here, myself + spouse + 3 kids. (1200 + 900). Our income was ~ $52k.
@mobilehavoc: Um, if they use it to pay off credit cards, they’re freeing up other money to stimulate the economy through spending. AND providing extra liquidity to banks that need that right now.
If you don’t “need the money at all”, why aren’t you out there doing your patriotic duty by spending all your excess money already? By giving the stimulus to people with less excess money, they are probably creating spending that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. People with more money would be more likely to just save it (and that is a documented economic fact).
@johnva: oooh. ZING!
Well, I just learned from the comments in the ‘Recession Watch’ item that we’re not actually in a recession. Something about a Clinton not being in the White House to create one. So I guess someone should tell the IRS to keep their money.
Sweet, more debt to be paid off next month
@surgesilk:
Yep, I’m in the same boat. I have NO credit card debt. Just a mortgage and car payment.
I’ve been stimulating the economy since January with all kinds of house remodeling projects.
Woot! My name is first (even though she makes all the money!
)
My last two digits are in the teens, while my wife’s are in the 70′s.
What I learned this morning.
You must have requested that the direct deposit refund go directly into YOUR bank account, with your personal bank account number listed on your tax return. I requested an RAL load through H@R Block, and since it has an alternate routing and account number (for my emerald card) I am not able to get direct deposit onto that card, or into my personal bank account.
GRRR!
The more you know…
I was totally stoked on the direct deposit, until I read the FAQ that said if you split your 2007 refund into more than one account, you will get a paper check. Freakin’ sending a portion into savings means I have to wait until July. And I just filed two weeks ago. Wish I would have known…..
@ceejeemcbeegee (just debatin’ not hatin’): Because the damn money is mine.
I’m in the first round. I still need to do my taxes soon.
@B: I thought it was better if the stimulation was delayed? Isn’t that how it usually works?
On behalf of the “rich”, let me explain the underlying problem and source of resentment.
Where I live, San Jose, a $75k salary is about equivalent to a $42k salary in Houston, at least according to the online calculators*. That $42k person in Houston and that $75k person in SJ have the same fiscal lifestlye, assuming that they both rent their homes.
But the federal government doesn’t take that into consideration. To them, the SJ person is “rich” and the Houston person “middle class”. The federal government compares integers and nothing else.
The person in SJ is effectively paying taxes on $33k that he doesn’t get to save, spend, or invest. That $33k is just keeping him alive at the same level as the person in Houston. (Who by the way is much more likely to be able to afford his own home one day.)
So, if the “rich” people on this board sometimes sound bitter when it comes to mortgage bailouts or taxes or economic stimulus checks, perhaps this explanation will soften the tone a little.
And, no, I won’t be getting a stimulus check. I don’t care, really. But it did hack me off when I got the post card that the IRS sent out telling me about the program. Thanks for wasting however much money to repeat what had already been in every newspaper in the country.
—–
* I don’t know what the person who came up with the San Jose prices was smoking. They were all way lower than reality for food and services. Can’t speak for Houston.
@surgesilk:
If you’re making more than $150k/year, you don’t need any more money to stimulate the economy. You already have a spare $600 to spend.
And don’t give me any BS about not having it. If I was making $150k/year, I’d be sticking at least $50k in the bank.
@lilmiscantberong:
I’m sorry, but if you get an RAL, you’re an idiot. There’s no other way to say it.
You’re paying interest and a fee for your own money. In addition to paying a ridiculous fee for the tax prep, which is easily done with far less expensive tax prep software.
Can someone answer me a simple question? I just did the calculator and it says we are getting $1,800. Why do they not add for all my kids? I have 4 kids and even on my tax return they only use the two youngest ones. Why is that? $1,800 is great especially since I get it on May 2, but I was expecting 2,400.
that is going to be nice getting that in May since, I get my raise sometime in April then that.
One of the questions on the online calculator is “Can you, or your spouse if filing a joint return, be claimed as a dependent on another person’s return?” If I select yes, the next page states:
“The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which authorized the pre-payment of this one-time credit, stipulates that the payment is not to be made to any of the following:
Individuals who can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.”
Although I can be claimed, I wasn’t. Does this affect me?
it would be rad if they didn’t take so much money from us in the first place. if that had been the case, maybe they wouldn’t need to give money back to try to pump up the economy. people would already be in a better financial state.
May 2nd, hell yah!
For some reason I thought it was $600 per adult, not $300…… what am I supposed to do with that?!?!
@elpendulo07: Probably not. I don’t think the IRS knows you could be claimed as a dependent unless you actually were claimed as a dependent.
@drjayphd: Better for whom?
@elpendulo07:
If you were not claimed, then you are free to receive a rebate. They do this to prevent a family receiving a rebate for their kid and then the kid receiving a rebate as well. As long as no one else is getting rebate credit for you, you are free to get your own.
@Syrenia:
Feeling your pain here in the DC area…and unfortunately cost of living is probably never going to be accounted for in these things because it’s primarily an urban problem, and except for our own representatives, politicians would rather act like city dwellers aren’t the “real Americans” that rural folk are. Theoretically a higher tax burden would be accounted for in higher salaries made, but in today’s economy, that doesn’t seem to be happening.
I was excited to get stimulated, until I found out my parents claimed me as dependent, then I wept.
Damn i have to wait till May for this check i was expecting it sooner. Don’t know if i can wait that long to get my new 24″ monitor. Also i was expecting $300 but the calculator said id be getting $600 WOOOHOOOO!!!1
@surgesilk: Boo-effing-hoo. You make 4 times my salary. How about you use your current resources to stimulate the economy instead of bitching about it?
@RvLeshrac: AGREED!
@DikembeMeiztombo: There’s a “where’s my refund” tracker on the IRS website – thats how you find out.
Taxes owed on top of all the taxes I already paid: -$14,000.00
Rebate: $0.00
Watching my hard earned dollars paid out to a bunch of dumb-asses who are in debt to their eyeballs, over-spent on McMansions, and will likely go running like lemmings to the closest Best Buy the second they get their gov’t checks: PRICELESS!
@Monchichi: do you make more than $150k? did you have an income tax liability of less than $1200 between you? do two of your children somehow “not qualify”?
those would be the main reasons your free money check would get reduced.
also, if you somehow have a very tiny tax liability, it would be reduced.
A guy I work with here got a paper check, his last two are 40, and he got a letter in the mail stating he is getting his in may.
Someone is WRONG. You gonna accuse the IRS?
@tape: No we make way under.
I am not sure what you are talking about “tax liability”.
All 4 of my kids are from the same dad, we have been married for 15 years and our oldest is 14. No one else can claim them. I stay at home and DH works. He makes about 35K a year, we dont itemize, we get EIC.
I don’t know, maybe I will call the IRS for some answers. It is to late this year, but info for next year would be great. Thanks
@mthrndr: The whole point of an economic stimulus package is that you _don’t_ make cuts in spending to compensate. That’s basic macroeconomics. (Actually, it might be intermediate, it’s been a while since college.)
The idea of giving a tax rebate to people who didn’t pay taxes and not giving a rebate to people who paid too much is absolutely ludicrous, though. It’s all just a government-sponsored vote-buying program to keep political incumbents in power through the bad economy.
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” – Alexis de Tocqueville.
Ok, it’s 5:00 p.m. on May 2nd. No stimulus check. My last 2 digits are 09. I did everything right on my taxes as far as electronic filing/refund. WTF? I’m near financial ruin anyway with plain old cost of living increases and this amount is like peeing in the ocean, but I guess every little bit helps.
hey jcr34 ….. i’m in the same boat. i called the IRS & was informed that “because i chose to pay my preparer’s fee through my refund … that removed me from the direct deposit list and put me into the paper check list” MEANING i won’t be getting my $$$ ’til the end of this month.
at least u’re getting cost of living increases!! i haven’t gotten one of those in years.
Greed and more greed has gotten us into this deep uncontrolled spending hole.
It is stupid of both P. Bush and P. Obama to keep printing money and stuffing it down a rat hole when we all know that the rats are in Washington.
The inflated cost of homes and the instant gratification of young people to purchase homes; cars; entertainment (electronic equipment; boats; rtv’s; etc.) based on an “expected” earning power rather than saving before buying has gotten this country (U.S.A.) into this hole we are now living in.
If everyone would go back to the basic philosiphy of saving and then buying, then we would not be where we are today.
I worked; scrimped and saved and then bought everything that I own today, one item at a time. Now you are asking me and many others to give our money to “bailout” these idiots that “need it now” or “I will tell my mommy on you” and they have a tantrum until we give in and give it to them. Then they can’t keep up the payments to save their ass and now expect us to save them. I say let them fail and maybe then they will learn a valuable lesson.
The bailouts will fail, because the people getting it will not have learned a lesson and because daddy has bailed them out again.
Leave my money the hell alone, I earned it the hard way, and saved it, and I don’t believe that you deserve it.
Grow up and quit being cry babies……