Stimulus Money Updates 101 (tons of great info)
In this latest stimulus check update, we explore:
1. The reason for the missing stimulus payments
2. Things you can do right now
3. Who you can call right now
While a majority of stimulus checks have gone out, many haven’t received their money yet.
The government is still mailing out paper checks, and some are getting their money via a prepaid visa debit card.
The process for sending out all of the payments could take months, according to a Congressional timeline.
If you do not receive your money this year, it will likely come to you during tax-filing season next year. Individuals eager to reconcile those payments will have to stay tuned for more guidance.
In order to get the stimulus money out as quickly as possible, the IRS started with the people who it could reach the fastest.
That meant people who had already filed their 2019 or 2018 tax returns — and received a refund directly deposited in their current bank account — were the first to see the money.
While millions more payments have been sent by check or on debit cards, there are multiple reasons some are still waiting for their cash.
Most payments were either directly deposited in an individual’s bank account or sent as paper checks in the mail. But the IRS has also said about 4 million people will receive a pre-paid debit card in the mail. Those were sent last week.
The Visa debit cards will come in a plain envelope from “Money Network Cardholder Services.”
The debit cards were sent to certain people who don’t have direct deposit information on file with the IRS. The IRS and Money Network Financial, which is managing the distribution of the prepaid EIP debit cards, have created online information pages to answer people’s questions.
Anyone required to file a tax return must do so before they are sent the stimulus money.
There are also millions of low-income people who are not normally required to file tax returns, but must submit some information to the IRS online before they can get their money.
Generally, these are individuals who did not earn more than $12,200 last year or married couples who did not earn more than $24,400.
The IRS created a “non-filer” online tool that asks for basic information including names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers for the person filing and his or her dependents. It doesn’t ask for any income information.
A lot of IRS employees have been ordered to work from home, which means the agency stopped opening a lot of its mail. By mid-April, the agency had to move a lot of its unopened mail into trailers.
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References:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/29/heres-what-the-irs-is-saying-about-inaccurate-stimulus-payments.html
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/05/28/politics/stimulus-check-waiting-what-to-do/index.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/04/irs-has-sent-159-million-stimulus-checks-how-to-get-your-1200.html
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/how_do_I_calculate_my_eip.pdf
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here