Searching For Answers To Frequently Asked Questions About Your Tax Rebate Check
Updated – The IRS has released the official 2008 Economic Stimulus Payment Schedule.
Also, read about the prospects and chances of an Obama stimulus check for 2009.
Based on the substantial traffic and comments I’ve been receiving for the article I wrote explaining and breaking down the details of the 2008 Stimulus Rebate Package, it’s clear that everyone in the United States is concerned about their rebate checks. Everybody wants to know how large their own tax rebate check will be and when they can expect to receive it.
There are many questions to be answered and I’ve been trying my best to respond to them all. While most questions have been straightforward, others have been slightly more complicated with issues relating to Chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcy filings, or issues relating to wage garnishment and student loan liens. But I will continue to do my best to answer your flurry of tax rebate comments and e-mails.
Visit The IRS Website For The Official Source Of Tax Rebate News and Updates
While I can’t necessarily state that all answers that I provide are definitive, I do try my best to answer accurately based on research and reasonable information. One thing I have noticed is the vast amount of misinformation and speculation that is available on the internet. There seems to be much conjecture and rumors surrounding the tax rebate, particularly as it relates to timetable and the order that the checks will be sent out. I wish to remind readers that the only definitive source for tax rebate news and updates is the official IRS Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center (official website). There, they’ve done a pretty decent job of addressing the seemingly endless stream of tax rebate inquiries, even providing answers to popular tax rebate questions (Tax Rebate FAQ). The IRS tax rebate website provides stimulus check payment hypotheticals and answers questions pertaining to Social Security recipients and veterans living on disability. They post updates regularly and understandably so. Here’s a quick link to some of the official tax rebate questions and answers for various filing scenarios:
- Single without children
- Head of Household, with children
- Married, with children
- Married, without children
- Married Filing Separately, with or without children
Here’s the official information release for recipients of alternative types of income:
- Recipients of Social Security Retirement Income or Disability
- Recipients of VA Benefits, Disability, or Survivor Benefits
If you still have unanswered questions, please continue to post comment questions to my original Bush Tax Rebate article. I will try my best to diligently answer each one as best as I can. Keep in mind that while I do have a legal and financial background, you will be best served asking your own tax professional or hired attorney the more substantive tax and legal questions, particularly when it relates to more delicate legal issues surrounding bankruptcy and liens. My informal opinions should only be viewed and regarded as general background information rather than seen as authoritative financial advice.
March 6th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I have no earned income my adujusted gross income is $26000.00 which is
made up of taxable interest,qualified dividends and small capital gain
I think i might be paying fedral income tax of about $650. and about $750
local state tax. I am USA resident and filing jointly. Currently we are both
unemployed. Are we entitled to any Bush stimulush payment or rebate?
We are under retirement age.
Separate question , can we contribute towared IRA , if we only have
taxable interest and dividends.
Thanking you , pravin patel.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Pravin,
Your stimulus tax rebate is based on your total 2007 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and not just earned income alone. As I discussed in my Tax Rebate article, your AGI includes all income sources including wages, salaries, tips, net capital gain, interest, alimony paid to you, and dividends, offset by any specific business or capital losses – but it does not include the personal exemption, or standard/itemized deductions.
Although you both may be technically unemployed, you still have taxable income in the eyes of the IRS. Thus, despite having no actual earned income, your 2007 AGI of $26,000 with payable federal income tax of $650 comprised of dividends, interest, and capital gain is sufficient to qualify you and your wife for a Bush tax rebate. Your rebate check will be $1,200 plus any additional rebate for children.
In regards to your separate IRA contribution question, based on your lack of earned income for 2007, you will be unable to contribute towards an IRA for 2007. However, 2008 IRA contributions may be available to you if you can become employed during 2008.
To be qualified to make IRA contributions (either Roth or traditional IRA), individuals need to have earned income – defined as wages, salaries, professional fees, and other amounts received for professional services actually rendered. Earned income also includes compensation such as commissions paid to sales personnel, tips, as well as bonuses.
For both Roth and Traditional IRA purposes, earned income does not include income from capital gains, interest, dividends, disability income, social security, pensions, annuities, or any other form of income not included in gross income.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Thank you for your detailed answer and clearifications on both questions.
Thanking you and grately appreciated
Pravin patel.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
No problem. I’m happy to help!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I’m the recipient of a fellowship for my training as a scientist. The fellowship is an (F32) Post-Doctoral Training Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). I’ve read that it is taxable income. However, I’m uncertain whether this taxable income is “earned income” and makes me eligible to contribute to a ROTH IRA. Any insight would be helpful.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Huffles,
Under current IRS guidelines noted in Publication 970 (pages 4-5), your scholarship or fellowship is considered taxable income unless it is used towards qualified expenses such as tuition or mandatory course fees. If the scholarship or fellowship is used to cover the cost of research, travel, or room and board, it will not be covered under the tax exemption for qualified education expenses.
As for whether your fellowship stipend qualifies as compensation or earned income for IRA contribution purposes, if you don’t receive a Form W-2 with your income reported in box 1 of Form W-2, you won’t be qualified to make an IRA contribution.
As expressly noted by the IRS – “You can set up and make contributions to an IRA if you receive taxable compensation. Under this rule, a taxable scholarship or fellowship is compensation only if it is shown in box 1 of your Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. For more information about IRAs, see Publication 590.”
March 12th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
im 20 years old i work a mon-fri 7-1 job at 11.50 hr i have one son that i put as a dependant i just wanted to know how much i would be looking at and when?
March 13th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Diego,
To properly estimate your tax rebate check, I would need to know your adjusted gross income, which is your entire 2007 income comprised of all wages, income sources, and gains. I would need to know how many days out of the entire year you worked for, especially since you are operating on wages.
Since I have insufficient data, I will try to estimate based on what I have. Presuming you work Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. continuously and factoring a total of 261 weekdays for 2007, I estimate your earned income to be around $18,000 give or take. This places you within the qualification range for a $600 rebate, assuming you file as single. With the extra $300 for your son, your total stimulus rebate check will be: $900. If you filed as married, the rebate check total would be $1,500.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Let’s just say I’m not the biggest fan of my ex-spouse… will he receive the entire (plus child) amount for this stimulus payment based on his 2007 return even though I have full legal and physical custody and pay all expenses for our son? The ex has visitation, and as a part of our divorce decree I agreed to share the deduction every other year. His year, was, as it happens, 2007. Is this stimulus package solely based on the 2007 return, then? Is that “just the breaks”?
On a related note, if it is based on 2007 filing, if he filed bankruptcy and also didn’t pay his prior year taxes, will this stimulus payment for my child basically go towards relieving his old tax debt, then, that he chose not to pay? That hardly seems fair that my child should have to “pay” for his father’s irresponsibility?- could you shed a little light on this scenario? (I’ve looked but have found nothing.) Thank you
March 13th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Jes,
Your case is a very interesting one. My feeling and assessment is that you and your ex husband’s child dependent issue will likely be addressed and controlled by what was laid out in the divorce decree agreement. Otherwise, two dependent claims for a child are usually settled by an IRS tiebreaker based on who the child lived with longer during the year.
As you have indicated that the agreement was the alternation of the child dependent deduction “every other year”, I think who gets what will likely be according to the luck of the draw of what the tax law and policies are for that particular year.
The stimulus tax rebate is an acceleration of a 2008 tax rebate that has been specially permitted to be claimed for the 2007 return. Taxpayers can claim the rebate now or wait until they file their 2008 tax return in 2009.
Because your ex husband can properly claim the extra child rebate now for 2007, I don’t think you will be able to claim the extra child rebate again in 2008. You can obviously claim a dependent child deduction in 2008, but I don’t think the IRS will issue another $300 child rebate to you. Keep in mind that while you won’t be able to claim the child rebate for yourself this year, you can still be qualified for the tax rebate in other ways if you had income.
As for your final question, the child tax rebate is meant to benefit the person providing for the child. Since your ex-husband will be able to properly claim the dependent deduction pursuant to the divorce decree in 2007, the tax rebate amount can be properly used to settle any of his outstanding debts including his past tax obligations.
I know this is not the answer you wanted to hear but this is what I think the result would be.
March 15th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I filed an injured spouse form as my husband has debts that I am not obligated to pay……Must I file an injured spouse form again to get my stimulus payment???
March 15th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Mary Ann,
You should go ahead and file the injured spouse claim with your return. Your portion of the stimulus rebate if you qualify, should be 50% in a community property state and proportionally attributed if not. If you’ve already sent in the form, just hang tight until May when the checks are projected to be sent out.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:33 am
We filed bankruptcy in January 2007 and elected to pay our 2007 taxes due via Chapter 13 payback plan. It, along with attorney/court fees, are to be paid first. Based upon my calculations, the IRS should be paid in full promptly no later than May. Will we receive the rebate check (yes, we do qualify within the AGI limits)? Will we receive the rebate if the courts have not paid them yet? Or will they forward the rebate whenever the 2007 taxes due are paid in full? I’ve tried to research this independantly and am not able to find the true answer. HELP — thanks in advance for your time and consideration, as well as the forum to propose such questions. Thanks again!
March 17th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Teresa,
This has been a common bankruptcy question regarding the tax rebate plan. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide you a very definitive answer because it depends on how your Chapter 13 trustee views such windfall tax rebates that are not linked to the overwithholding of taxes.
Normal tax refunds are part of the bankruptcy estate and debtors must turn over future refunds to the bankruptcy trustee. However, the 2008 tax rebate is not in the nature of a true refund. It’s a free government handout without the underlying overpayment of taxes.
Since the answer may be subjectively based on the position held by your bankruptcy trustee, I suggest you ask your bankruptcy attorney to ask the trustee about his or her position on this matter. My guess is that more likely than not, because you are already in Chapter 13, you should be able to keep at least part of your tax rebate. However, in the interest of the estate, the trustee will likely want to intercept your rebate check and review the amount on a case by case scenario before releasing any amount to you.
However, that’s just my take.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Our joint filing income would be over the limit to get a rebate check, however, we had to take an emergency withdraw from our IRA which shows up as income. Does this withdraw really make us ineligible? Without this amount, we would be well under the $174K allowance.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Alan Juchum,
Your IRA withdrawal counts as ordinary income towards your adjusted gross income (AGI) on your tax return. If it bumps your married joint filing AGI past the $174,000 threshold for married couples, the excess will summarily disqualify you from receiving an economic stimulus payment.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
my income was over the amount that we could earn because of gambling winnings and i am just wondering why they count that on this issue because it is not real income because you lose more than what you win and it comes off of your taxes as a loss and i don’t understand why they don’t take your actual earnings from your job that is on your w2.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Karen- I’m not the moderator but I just wanted to state that if you weren’t advised to offset those winnings with documented losses, isn’t your tax accountant doing you a disservice? It’s my understanding that you are to offset your winnings with your gambling losses when you report them on taxes… Just wondering about that… also, if you make the choice to gamble with the hopes of winning, isn’t that the result? More income? I’m curious to see what the results of your question are.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Karen Smith,
Jes makes a good point. Your tax adviser should have informed you that you are permitted to offset your gambling losses against your gambling income to the extent of your winnings. However keep in mind that you are not permitted to deduct your gambling losses as an overall net loss.
To get any tax benefit from gambling losses, you must itemize your deductions. Taxpayers who select the standard deduction option cannot deduct gambling losses at all. For taxpayers who itemize, the gambling losses are fully deductible, and are not subject to the 2% of adjusted gross income requirement for miscellaneous itemized deductions.
Perhaps this will allow you to decrease your overall adjusted gross income to fall within the tax rebate threshold limits. Good luck
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Is my 97 year old father [actually his estate] entitled to a rebate check? He passed away on Feb 5, 2008. He had $12,000 in income during 2007 but doesn’t have a tax liability. He hasn’t filed a return in years and I know we’d have to file a return to qualify.
Everything I see says his estate is qualified and would get a $300 check, but I do not see anything on the IRS site that mentions a death or timing of a death.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
Buzzards27,
Your father’s estate should be able to claim and receive a stimulus payment. The tax rebate will be paid to the estate, to be distributed according to the terms of the will. The IRS addressed this deceased taxpayer issue in its official Tax Rebate Frequently Asked Questions.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
i am filling for chaper 7 bankruptcy, and my question in will my home items that i used as collateral for two of the loans that I am filling on be exempt?
March 24th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Samantha,
Your question is much too broad for me to be able to answer on this online format. However in general, the type of property you are permitted to keep during a bankruptcy filing will depend on what assets are considered exempt from bankruptcy trustee control. This will depend on the state that you reside in and the state bankruptcy laws in effect. Some states allow you to choose between state or federal law exemptions.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
My husband owes back child support on his children. Will the County get the Stimulus check like they do his income tax?
March 26th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Rachel,
If there is a child support lien on your husband such that his tax refunds have been intercepted, then any qualifying tax rebate payment will likely be taken away as well to satisfy his outstanding child support liability.
March 29th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
My husband owes back child support and we are paying it monthly in an agreement with the state. He is retired and on social security benefits. I work full time. I HAVE NOT filed an injured spouse form with our federal income taxes as we owe taxes this year. Do I have to file injured spouse form to get my portion of the Economic Stimulus Payment?? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks
Connie
March 29th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Connie,
Yes. You should definitely fill out Injured Spouse Allocation Form 8379 and attach it with your 2007 tax return. Depending on whether you reside in a community property state or not, the IRS will accordingly allocate to you the portion of the tax rebate you are entitled to. April 15 – don’t forget!
March 31st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Why is there a question of whether to include only taxpayers with tax liabilities in the stimulus plan?
March 31st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Erik Baldwin,
The stimulus tax plan was designed to benefit primarily lower income taxpayers who are more likely to quickly use up their rebate money and thereby help jump start the recessive economy. There is a minimum income requirement for qualification, but there is no firm requirement that taxes must be owed.
Even for those who made too little to owe any taxes may still qualify for a rebate, albeit a smaller amount.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 am
I owe an ER bill and the state always keeps our refund. Will they also take the rebate.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:00 am
Tami,
I don’t have enough collection information about your ER bill, but generally, tax refunds are are not captured for private and commercial debts. They are only intercepted for government debts, unpaid child support, and student loans in default. There would have to be a seizure order against a bank account where the tax refund was deposited for the hospital to claim the refund money.
However, if your state government is indeed intercepting your future tax refunds to satisfy outstanding and unpaid tax debt, then yes, your tax rebate will likely be intercepted as well.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
My husband and I have filed chapter 7 bankruptcy in NY state. Will we loose are stimulus rebate to our creditors? I know we could have lost our income tax return to creditors if we filed before we received our money and spent it, does the stimulus rebate fall under the same catagory?
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Terry,
In regards to your Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing – yes, you will likely lose your stimulus tax rebate if you filed for bankruptcy protection prior to receiving the rebate. You will likely be required to turn over all or part of the rebate check to your Chapter 7 trustee unless the amount can otherwise be successfully claimed as exempt under federal and state laws.
If you waited until after you received your tax rebate to file for bankruptcy, the rebate check would likely have been included as income for purposes of running the means test to see if you qualified for filing Chapter 7 to begin with.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
My wife and I filed our tax return joint with direct deposit into our savings. Now the savings account is closed. How can we change our account information?
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Jesse Kennedy,
The IRS has issued an official response to this particular question on its tax rebate website.
Here’s the FAQ question and answer excerpt for your review:
Q) If I use Direct Deposit for my tax return refund and my bank account information later changes, what will happen when my Stimulus Payment goes out?
A) Typically, the Direct Deposit will be rejected. After the IRS receives a rejection notice, the payment will be converted to a paper check and mailed to you.
Q) Is there something I can do to prevent my Stimulus Payment from being automatically deposited into the account that I identified for the Direct Deposit of my regular refund?
A) Generally, if you designated Direct Deposit on a tax return, then the Stimulus Payment will go to the account number you designated. If the account number is no longer active, the IRS will send you a paper check. Under some circumstances you can prevent the payment from being automatically deposited.
If your regular refund has been deposited into your account via Direct Deposit and you contact the IRS before the week of April 13, the account information can be blocked to avoid the use of Direct Deposit for your Stimulus Payment. This will result in the issuance of a paper check that will be mailed to you.
However, if you contact the IRS on or after the week of April 13, the IRS will not have enough time to stop the Direct Deposit. In this situation, if you do not want your Stimulus Payment to go to the account listed on your tax return, you should contact your financial institution to discuss possible options. Finally, if the account number is no longer active, the IRS will send you a paper check.
April 4th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I owe back child support that I am paying on monthly as well as back taxes that I am also paying on an agreement. I know they hold tax refunds and apply them to those 2 accounts, which of course is fine.
My question is, even though I know they will be probably holding the rebate check 2008, will it just disappear or will it go to one or both of those amounts? Please help.
April 5th, 2008 at 3:58 am
Paul Sybrandy,
Don’t worry about your tax rebate check “disappearing”. If you are qualified to receive one, a stimulus payment will work its way to you from the IRS.
However, for unpaid back child support purposes, the stimulus payment is treated like any other tax refund. This means that part or all of your payment can be used to pay past due federal or state income taxes or non-tax federal debt such as student loans and child support. If this occurs, you will receive a letter explaining how the stimulus payment was applied.
April 5th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I have student loans which werent paid and as a result they have been taking my taxes for the last few years, its down to less than 1000 will they take my stimulus check toward this also?
April 5th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Heather,
Yes. If your tax refunds are being intercepted to pay down your defaulted student loans, your stimulus payment may be taken away as well.
For lien purposes, the stimulus payment is treated like a any tax refund. This means that part or all of your payment may be used to pay off your student loan debt. If this occurs, you will receive a letter explaining how the stimulus payment was applied.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
My husband and I owe the IRS for 2004 & 2005 income taxes and make monthly payments. For 2006 & 2007 we got money back but it was applied to back taxes. Since we owe for 2004 & 2005 will we get the stimulus check or will that be applied to our back taxes. Thank you!!
April 6th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Rachel,
Since your tax refunds have been continuously intercepted by the IRS to pay off back taxes from 2004 and 2005, your 2007 refunds will be intercepted as well. Because the economic stimulus payment is treated like any tax refund, all or part of the payment may be used to pay off your tax debt. If this occurs, you will receive a letter explaining how the stimulus payment was applied.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Raymond,
I’m a graduate student, paid by my university about $24,000 in 2007 in fellowships (not reported on a W-2, but required to be included in my wages on line 7 of the 1040). I also had $1800 reported on a W-2 (for other work I did for my school) and $700 in self-employment income.
The IRS’ stimulus calculator says I should get a $600 check, but I’m concerned that because most of my AGI comes from fellowships (which aren’t listed as making up part of income which qualifies one for a rebate), I in fact won’t get a check after all.
I’ve tried to find info on this question on the IRS website and online, but no dice.
Input would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
Allison
April 9th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Allison
I have bad news – I don’t think you will qualify for a tax rebate payment for this year. Because your $24,000 worth of fellowship did not require the school to issue you a W-2 and no payroll taxes were withheld, it will not be considered “earned income” for IRS as well as tax rebate purposes. You have other earned income sources I see but they don’t seem to add up to the $3,000 minimum threshold. A fellowship is taxable income, but in most cases it’s not considered compensation or earned income.
The good news is that although you may not qualify this year, you can try again on April 15, 2009 for your 2008 tax return. You can claim the tax rebate either this year or next.
I know…your other earned income sources are so close to the cut off…
April 9th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
we live in southwest missouri and do to all the floods we have had in our area the government gave us and several other surrounding counties extensions on filing taxes (county wide). does this also give us an extension on the rebate check deadline? or did we just find ourselves in a catch 22? thanks in advance for any info you can offer. Dawn
April 10th, 2008 at 2:55 am
Dawn,
Yes, you will get the equivalent of an extension to file for the rebate check. The IRS wants to encourage and urge everyone to file by the normal April 15 tax deadline since the sooner you file the sooner you can receive your stimulus payment. But if you have obtained a valid six month extension to file or if you are filing to establish your eligibility for the stimulus payment, filing by Oct. 15 means the IRS can process your return and issue a stimulus payment before the end of the year.
However, the sooner you file your extension, the quick the IRS will process.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Thanks very much, Raymond (you can delete this comment if it seems to break up the thread). I (and I’m sure all the other authors of queries) really appreciate the time and effort you’re taking to answer our questions!
Allison
April 10th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Raymond,
I am in the same situation as Allison; my fellowship is reported on a 1099 Misc and I only have additional $2100 on a W-2. But I thought that if the AGI is > $8750, I will get the rebate for sure!? At least both IRS calculator and TurboTax tell me that I will get it.
Another quick question; to get to the $8750, I reported $150 as personal property rental income, which I got from my friend for using my mtbike last summer. Is this legal, and do I need any paperwork to prove it?
Thanks so much for advice.
Tilly
April 11th, 2008 at 3:47 am
Tilly,
To even qualify for the tax rebate, you will need to have at least $3,000 worth of qualifying income. For tax rebate purposes, qualifying income includes Social Security benefits, certain railroad retirement benefits, certain veterans’ benefits, and earned income such as income from wages, salaries, tips and self-employment.
1099 Misc Form Income may or may not be earned income depending on how you received it. Was it a grant or payment for services rendered? It’ll depend on the character. Fellowship income is usually given in grant form rather than provided for services rendered, and usually not considered earned income, but of course, it depends…
Turbo Tax can only offer an answer as accurately as the information provided.
As for including the mountain bike rental income to reach the taxable income threshold, that sounds all right so long as you have some way to back it up should the IRS inquire about it. But the amount is so small, I highly doubt the IRS will even bat an eye.
April 12th, 2008 at 5:39 am
I made over 4112 on my adjusted income for the year, i did the stimlus tax calculator and it said i should be getting back 300 dollars, but i did not receive a letter from irs what should i do?
April 12th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Josh,
Don’t worry about not receiving the tax rebate notification letter. It was simply a template letter with non essential information regarding the tax rebate and won’t affect whether you actually qualify for it or not. Just make sure you file your 2007 tax return with the appropriate income sources and you will be all right.
April 13th, 2008 at 1:53 am
In the first post (from “Pravin Patel”) you say that interest, dividends, etc. is AGI and therefore contributes to their economic stimulus package, despite this not being earned income. However, you have also said that fellowships are not earned income, and therefore do not contribute to receiving the rebate. So which is it – does unearned income count or not?
April 13th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Anne,
Interest, dividends, and most fellowship income, etc are not considered earned income for tax rebate income qualification purposes. Qualification income is the initial $3,000 hurdle that must be met before any taxpayer may be entitled to a tax rebate payment to begin with. Once the initial threshold has been met, that’s when you look at the overall Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) to determine how much the rebate amount will actually be. Only at this time may you take into consideration interest, dividends, and fellowship income to calculate the AGI.
April 13th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
hey my boyfriend and i both filed our tax returns already, but only i got the letter from the irs about the rebate and he filed his first, does this mean hes not getting anything?
April 13th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Yvonne,
Don’t worry about the IRS tax rebate notification letter. You can read read about the notification letter here and as you’ll notice, it’s a standard template letter with no new information. So long as you and your boyfriend properly file your tax returns and qualify, both of you will receive your tax rebate payment.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
greetings,
me and my wife filed our tax return and found out that we owe money and would be unable to pay the whole amount (paid about half). would we be still able to get the stimulus package rebate?
April 14th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Jeff,
You will receive your tax rebate as scheduled. However, the IRS will send you a letter indicating that your 2007 tax liability remains unpaid. They will likely impose interest and/or penalties as well.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
thanks raymond i was getting kind of worried there, lol. he thought he wasnt getting one and i tried to find a way to look it up, but i guess asking is always easier,thanks again
April 18th, 2008 at 2:52 am
I filed my taxes and already received my refund. I did them through turbo tax and not until the end did i see i had to pay for it(had always done it for free). The company took their portion out of my refund and then deposited in my bank. On my tax return it shows my bank information though i.e. routing and account numbers. Does this mean I will get it back by direct deposit or since they did what they call a “refund transfer” will I get a paper check?
Thank you
April 18th, 2008 at 3:00 am
Tasha,
Based on what you’ve told me, you should receive your tax rebate in the form of a direct deposit to the bank account you provided.
April 19th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
If i wanna receive my stimulus check via my checking account (direct deposit) instead of a paper check, how do i do that?.. When i filed my income taxes this year.. i got a paper check.. not direct deposit.. how can i change this?.. or can I?
April 19th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Renee,
Since it’s already past April 15, the tax rebate payment wheels have already been set in motion. You are likely to receive your tax rebate in the form of a paper check. You can try calling the IRS directly to change your payment option, but you will likely not receive your direct deposit the same time as those who timely filed by the tax filing deadline.
April 19th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I filed jointly with my wife, I have 2 sons and our gross income was 26,957 my wife is a stay at home mom so she had no income. What is my rebate check going to be?
April 21st, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Michael,
It depends. How old are your two sons? Are they both under the ages of 17? Also, what was your tax liability on your joint tax return?
April 21st, 2008 at 4:43 pm
My wife and I have 3 children (all under 17) and she is a stay at home mom. My (our) AGI was roughly 85,000. Will we receive the full amount at 2100, or does my wife not qualify because she did not have an income?
April 21st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Brandon,
Looking at your numbers and checking the tax rebate chart – it appears you will receive the full $2,100, which includes your joint $1,200 and the extra $300’s for 3 minor children. If you submitted your tax return as married filing jointly, it is immaterial whether your wife worked or not. So long as your combined income consists of the requisite qualified income and falls within the adjusted gross income limits, you will get the full tax rebate payment plus more for the kids. Congrats – $2,100 is quite a tidy sum! Don’t spend it all on one place…although the IRS may beg to differ (they WANT you to spend it all at once).
April 21st, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Raymond,
Thank you for your quick response and I look forward to saving the 2100. =)
April 21st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
good one for ya. i owe student loans. but not long enough to have my taxes intercepted. but i did get a call from a creditor AFTER I RECIEVED MY REFUND ALREADY saying that i had a choice. wage garnishment or a monthly amount taken from my account. the monthly amount was resonable so i took that option. because my taxes where not intercepted but i am now in the system will my rebate check be intercepted?
April 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Andre,
Check the monthly payment plan you agreed to. There is likely a provision that provides for all future tax refunds to be intercepted and used to satisfy the existing unpaid student loan debt. Usually there is such a condition attached to these type of agreements. Of course, the logistics of actually intercepting your tax rebate is another matter. Something tells me the IRS won’t be able to re-route your tax rebate in time this late in the game. This is more of an educated, wishy-washy guess than anything else however..
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Raymond —
You advised a reader above not to worry about the notification letter. Is there a reason why some people didn’t get them?
I only ask because I meet all criteria and have yet to hear from the IRS.
Thanks in advance!
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Dr. Love,
The IRS notification letter is only a standard template letter sent to individuals the IRS thinks may qualify for the rebate based on past tax records. It doesn’t accurately reflect on whether the person would qualify now or not. If you qualify, so long as you filed your taxes, you should get your tax rebate. As I mentioned in a past post, the IRS letter contains zero new information. It didn’t address me by name – all recipients are simply referred to as “taxpayer”. Thus, you shouldn’t worry about it.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 am
Raymond, My Husband and I ended up owing additional taxes on our 2007 tax. We did not have the money to pay so we sent in a installment proposal with our taxes. Will the IRS intercept our rebate?
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Nancy,
The IRS usually does not start intercepting tax refunds until they’ve given adequate notice of a deficiency and provided time to respond regarding payment. However, once the installment plan is actually set up, there is usually a provision in the installment agreement that calls for future refunds to be automatically applied towards the unpaid liability. But in this case, I would not expect your tax rebate to be intercepted so early on.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Raymond,
I recently got married last year, this is the first year we are filing jointly. She owes back taxes and is on a payment plan with the IRS. I do not owe any back taxes. Will the IRS intercept my rebate as well and apply it to her back taxes or will i get a rebate and the IRS will apply her rebate to her back taxes? I am the first SS# on the tax return.
Thanks in advance.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Brandon,
Congrats on getting married and getting to do married people stuff like filing jointly!
Unfortunately, the IRS will intercept your joint tax refunds, including the joint tax rebate to pay off any of your individual unpaid tax liabilities. Since you filed jointly, you two will only receive a single tax rebate payment, but it’s likely the payment will be intercepted. You should have tried filing an injured spouse claim with your return to separate yourself from your wife’s unpaid tax debts. A successful injured spouse claim may have entitled you to receive your portion of the tax refund/tax rebate.
I believe you can file injured spouse claims for prior years if I’m not mistaken. Not sure you’ll be able to recover your intercepted tax rebate however…
April 24th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
My sons are under 17 and I had 0 tax liability.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Michael,
Based on your AGI of $26,957, filing married jointly, with two under-17 children, and no tax liability – your tax rebate should be $1,200. This includes the $600 for you and your wife, and extra $300 child rebates for each kid.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
hi me and my husband did our taxes april 14 and found out we owe 17$ in federal and 530$ in state. how will this affect my rebate check? we made together 56k and this is the first time we have ever owed and i already paid off the 17$ just not the 530$ for state just yet. does this mean we wont get one or will have them take out what we owe from our rebate check ?
April 25th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
When would we receive the check if we filed for an extension with our taxes? When the return is submitted to the IRS or do they know enough with the submission of the extention paperwork?
April 25th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I am a dependent, and I earned almost $3,000 this year. Does this mean I am ineligible?
April 25th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
My wife and I filled for Ch13 4 years ago we a the last payment is planned for august. Will the trustee still require the stimus check?
April 26th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Hi Raymond.
My wife and I had an AGI of 189,900. We have four kids under 17, three of whom have disabilities. We have not been able to deduct the medical expenses for them beyond the limits of my company’s flex plan, so we are hoping for some sort of rebate to help offset their care. Any chance we may qualify?
Thanks,
Mike
April 26th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
When I filed my taxes, I recieved my federal back in the form of a check. I recieved my state in the form of direct deposit. Will I recieve my rebate in the mail or would it be deposited?
April 27th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
My husband just recently started paying child support for another child and isn’t behind in any payments. Will he still get a rebate check or will it go to the other childs mother?
April 28th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I am doing a 100% chapter 13 repayment. I have back taxes figured into the payments. I recieved a tax refund this year from my 2007 taxes (as I am paying 100%, I don’t have to give it to the trustee). Will the IRS remember that I am in a ch 13 or will they keep the rebate?
My boyfriend owes about $1000 on his child support which he’s been paying back monthly along with his regular payment. If he’s already in this payment plan, will they still send his ex the rebate?
Thanks!
April 28th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I am hoh with 2 qualifying childredn with wages for 2007 that were 25000.00 to 27000.00 I am wanting to know what my rebate would be
April 29th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I earned 17898 for last year and I also have an 8 month old son that I claimed on my taxes. I owe student loans and my home state refund was intercepted and put towards my loans, but my federal refund was not, and neither was the stat refund i recieve from the state I worked in and I did receieve both of those. My question is will my stimulous rebate get intercepted? and What about the 300 for my son? will that go towards my student loans as well? And will his refeund come as a seperate check or will it be combined with mine?
Thank you
Nikki
April 29th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I thought I had clicked the “efile” button on my Turbo tax, but when I checked this morning apparently I had not, or there was an error with the system. THus, my taxes were filed this morning, and it’s April 29th. Does this mean that I will not be receiving the Economic Stimulus check at all, or that it will be delayed due to late filing?
April 29th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I am personally behind on child support. My Income tax check gets sent to my arrears. Will this stimulus follow that path, and get sent to my owed child support, or will I personally be getting it? Any help please?
April 30th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I received a notice that said i might be eligible for a stimulus check and I also check online and used the calculatoer to see if i qualified and i did. I qualified for 1800.00. I used direct deposit into my fathers account will my check be mailed or will it go to the same account. So far I have not received anything into the account. I am starting to think that i will not be receiving one.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:38 pm
My soon to be ex spouse filed for bankruptcy in Nov 2007 and it was finalized in Dec 2007 – Chapter 7. Will they have anything to do with us getting our rebate checks? We filed taxes together and it went to Direct Deposit in my account. Our divorce is not final yet.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Where did the money come from for the Presidents tax rebate?
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 am
MY SOCIAL ENDS WITH 11 AND TODAY I WAS SUPPOSE TO GET MY REBATE AND NOPE NOTHING IN MY BANK YET. IF I DID IT WITH TAX CUT PROGRAM GOING DIRECT DEPOSIT DO I STILL FOLLOW THAT SCHEDULE?
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:03 am
Do any outstanding credit card debts (that are close to charge off) affect the stimulus check? We have some bills that we are working on getting paid off
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
we already received our 2007 tax return via direct depost, but we did not send in the 8453-OL form. Will we still get our stimulus payment via direct deposit?
May 4th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I was wondering how muhc would i get back mine was 14,517.00.Some websites say 300 and some websites say 600. So please tell me what u think thank you
May 5th, 2008 at 12:02 am
My husband and I filed joint,yet he is the primary provider,and according to his ssn we should have recieved the payment by now,due to that fact we has direct deposit..But I don’t know a single person that has recieved their payment yet..I just don’t know whats going on,and frankly it’s heartbreaking..We were really looking forward to that money in order to travel home to see our family before he deploys =*( I just don’t know what to think..
May 5th, 2008 at 12:47 am
i will not be recieving money cause im on social security disabilityand im a dependant on my fiance’s income tax, but im confused about my 4 year old son, because im on SSD, he is also on it and he is also a dependant on my fiance’s income tax, cause he filed head of household, does my son get 300$ and does it go by my sons SS# or my fiance’s when it comes to the day that its paid. i couldnt find any info on my current situation so im really confused..i hope everything i said made sense
thanks in advance,
~Kristina~
May 5th, 2008 at 2:41 am
I was told by the IRS that our bank rejected the direct deposit for our tax rebate.We put the correct routing number & account number on our tax return,so I don’t understand why it wouldn’t go through.The bank said they don’t get any notice saying when one doesn’t go through,it just won’t work.The IRS said they won’t try to submit it again.I think they entered the wrong information & it isn’t fair that it will be delayed by at least a month now.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Me and my husband filed jointly and have three kids all under the age of 17. I have a sallie mae student loan that is very past due, and according to all of the payment charts say that we should have gotten our check on may 2nd, but still nothing. Is it possible that they used the check to pay off the studen loan?
May 6th, 2008 at 9:10 am
My husband and I filed our taxes through H&R Block and recieved our money on their bank card. I was wondering if that would be considered direct deposit or will i recieve a check for the stimulus rebate?
May 6th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Dear Raymond,
You’re probably the only one who can answer this question for me. I think that because it is a little controversial, people may be reluctant to disclose ulterior motives behind the exclusions of certain demographics. The question is, why are single and joint filers, who make in excess of $80,000 being excluded from receiving rebates?
It seems to pose a socialistic agenda whereas we need to take and/or diminish any incentives from producers. Maybe I am overanalyzing this too deeply, however, I cannot help but think of how unfair it is to that particular demographic.
One may argue that if someone makes that kind of money, they do not need the rebates, or some may assume that they are essentially self-employed with many tax benefits not available to employees. While that may true, has anyone consider that they can just as well be higher paid executives within an even higher tax bracket?
There are just too many questions left unanwered. Perhaps you can shed some light on this issue or maybe direct me to another source.
Thank you.
Jesse Henley
May 6th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
If I owe IRS taxes that I have been making payments on for a couple years, I only owe at this time $242.00. My husband worked for someone whom did not take income tax out of his check, and we ended up oweing, which we have been paying and they have taken all our returns for the last couple years, we only owe the $242.00 at this time…will this keep us from getting a stimulas check..when I went to the calculator to see when we would receive…it gives the message ” we are sorry, information is not availale at this time…etc. I guess my question is…If you owe any taxes, are you disqualifed from receiveing the stimulus check?
Thank you,
Lisa
May 7th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I forgot to send in my 8453-ol form. Will this effect my stimulus payment?
May 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Me and my wife filed taxes around february using direct deposit and around march we filed and ammendment for some schoos receipt we haven’t got and we got a check in the mail. I guess what i’m trying to say is are we going to get are check by direct deposit or by mail. we are moving to another state also so i don’t know what to do if we get it by check. Thanks.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:50 am
according to the payment sechule my s.s. number i should have received my payment may 2 …and i havent ….so i am confused to how i found out whats going on?
May 9th, 2008 at 10:58 am
My taxes were filed via efile, however, at that time I did not pay the Federal taxes as I waited for my State refund to come before I paid the Federal. My state was direct deposit and then I sent a check to Federal. Will I get direct deposit or paper with my stimulus check?
Thanks
May 9th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I filed on February through Direct Deposit. My rebate check was supposed to be in my account today, May 9, 2008. There was nothing posted I’m not sure why. Could there be a delay or does this mean my check will be mailed to me?
May 9th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Hi, I file my federal taxes well before the cut off but failed to file my state taxes will this exclude me from receiveing the rebate?
May 9th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Hi, I only filed my federal taxex this year thru Turbo Tax… I neglected to file my state by the cutoff date. Does this mean that I will not recieve a stimulus check.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
My wife and I were separated for 10+ years. She filed bankruptcy last year and I was sucked into it by the IRS due to not being divorced. We filed amended returns as directed by the IRS Officer present at the bankruptcy hearing. We filed a joint return this year and recieved a tax refund. Will we get a stimulus check?
May 10th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hey, I thought I knew what was going on but somehow we didn’t get the refund on the 9th like I though we would. I am married we filed jointly,2 kids AGI 119,000. I don’t work I am going to school. No loans or outstanding balances. M y husband somewhere that if we didn’t pay a certain amount of taxes with me not working that we wouldn’t qualify I don;t seem how that is possible considering we received $ back this year. Any ideas??? Thanky You
May 10th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
My wife and I filed electronically but had to send in an addendum by mail for additional refund. Everything was processed and received before April 15. According to skd we should have had rebate by May 9 but have not yet received it. Could the addendum have backed up the rebate or caused a mailing instead of a direct deposit? Any help greatly appreciated,
May 11th, 2008 at 12:32 am
I was supposed to receive my refund on May 9 via my bank account. I did not receive anything. I received a letter from the IRS today telling me that my refund should be in my account by Friday May 16. This is a heads up for anyone who was expecting their refund on the 9th. Maybe you’ll be receiving it on the 16th.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Unhappy, that dependants are not receiving this rebate even though we have our own income and file our taxes for 2007. How come they didn’t mention this?? I only understood that if you file your taxes you will get the rebate no matter what.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I have already received my rebate but it seems they “forgot” that I had a dependent at the time of issuing the check. Is there some where on the IRS website I can go to dispute the amount I received? I couldn’t seem to find anything on the site regarding this type of issue.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I was wondering if i am going to receive a check, im 19 years old i made about $4,500 last year. but my parents claim me as a dependent. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
May 15th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
i filed my taxes at the beginning of the year using turbotax and my rebate was direct deposited into my account. i was expecting my stimulus payment to be in my account on may 9th (according to the irs schedule and the last two digits of my ss#). why would i not receive one? i earned about 30k last year and have some credit card debt.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Hi I was just wondering, my husband got his 2007 tax refund direct deposited and it took a long time because of something to do with a social security check he got when he was i think 18 and when we would call to see if the refund was there it would say unable to verify your security. He got it straightened out and they said it was all cleared up but now when we call to see if his stimulus rebate is there its saying the same thing and we cant figure out why. when we call the information numbers they give us the run around and when we go to the website it also says there is no information. Do you think they messed up and are holding it again for that reason because he doesnt have student loans and we have a child support action being taked against us but they dont have our information yet. Can you tell us how we can straighten this out or figure out why this is going on? Thanx
May 19th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I didn’t have a child at the time of filing but have a three month old now, does that qualify as having a dependant child? And also, how can I figure out what I could be receiving and when if I don’t have a w2 with me or know how much I made last year total?
May 21st, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Why did you quit answering questions people are posting?
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:28 am
I owe child support in texas. Will I get a rebate check for me and my son?
May 24th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I only made $1,500 last year, but I had a child. Does that qualify me for a rebate check ?
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 am
if i recieve alimony as my only income will i recieve stimulus payment
June 9th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Question, how does the government determine what a person gets back regarding the stimulus checks? I am single, no children and make $10.75 hourly, part time. I made $15,500 last year. A friend and I were talking and she said I should get back $600. When I went to file my taxes, the person that did my taxes said I should get $300 back. So..which is true? Am I getting $300 back or $600?
June 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
My 14 yr old son’s father died on April 12th of 2008. Does anybody know how to find out if he even filed income taxes for 2007 and if my son is entitled to his stimulus rebate?
June 18th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Hi i was wondering if im going to get a stimulus check. I worked as an independent contractor and didnt get taxed at all but i filed my taxes and broke even so i dont owe. But im wondering if im going to get a stimulus.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I have received my stimulus check – However, I filed jointly for 2007, but unfortunately, my husband passed away in February of 2008 – The problem is the check is made out to both of us and the bank will not accept the check as a deposit.
Would it help if I submitted his death certificate to the bank? Or do I have to advise the IRS to send a check only made out to me?
Very confusing – would appreciate an answer
Thank you, Myrna Stern
July 15th, 2008 at 8:36 am
If you drew umployment and made 2,700.00 for the year do you still get the stimulus check.
Thank you, sherry
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
My last two digits at 93 and my husband and I still have not recieved our tax rebate yet. When will we get this check and is there any live person from the IRS that I could speak to instead of these stupid automated so-called helplines?????
July 30th, 2008 at 11:48 am
My husband and I received a notice of payment for July 11. When I had not received anything, I went to the website and was told there was a delay and to call a certain number. After multiple tries, I finally got a hold of someone and the person explained to me that since we had filed Bankruptcy we will not receive a check until it is rectified. We still have 3 years on our Chapter 13. I am upset with the fact that the IRS sent me something promising a rebate and then does not produce. I am aware of the situation regarding the bankruptcy, but just want to express my anger on how they are handling this so poorly. Thank you.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
i didnt recieve the correct amount for my stimulus check they forgot my child part how long will it be before we get the rest of our money
August 13th, 2008 at 12:48 am
How long do I have to cash my stimulus check?
August 25th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I’m trying to inquire into why my 83 year old mother has not received a check. I did her taxes on Turbo Tax & she had AGI of $34K with a standard deduction & 1 personal exemption. She got a $15 refund. All I can find out is that there is a delay. I’ve repeatedly tried the phone number given on the IRS website but it never gets answered by anyone.
Is there an address a letter or e-mail could be sent to the IRS to find out what the delay is so I can correct it?
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I heard the money for the rebate checks came from China is this true and how can one fine out???
December 7th, 2008 at 10:05 am
my dad passed 04/08…This year in 2009 do I claim my mom since She is now livng with me and what differences would that makke for my taxes? I’m head of household and one chile. leass that 40,000.00 yr.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I did not get my rebate check in 2008 because my income was higher than the limit due to the fact that I had taken high IRA distributions for 2007. In 2008, I have taken nominal distributions and my income falls within limits. Will I qualify for the rebate check in 2009 which I did not get in 2008?
Thanks
Anup Singh
January 30th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I have been paying back support it seems like forever.In 2004 I went back to court with my ex and the state of Indiana. I agreed to the amount they said I owed because I had already been out $3000 that I had to borrow.My question is how can a State agree to something one year and then like 5 years later change their mind.I was told by the Indiana deputy prosecutor that as long as I made the payments they could not touch myu tax refund. But now they are taking it.Also how come we are not notified ahead of it.They take it and then we get the notice.Look like they would send a notice first in case someone wants to dispute it.I have not missed a child support payment since 1992 except when the state of Arkansas thought I had paid what we agreed to in 1992 then I went nearly a year without paying anything until Indiana decides that the lawyer from chid services in Arkansas whom they let represent them because the court was jeld in Arkansas in 1992.Indiana waited almost five years to tell us that they did not agree with the $5,500 back support They waited till both kids were grown and the $5,550 had been paid off for nearly a year to dispute and I think it’s wrong that any state can just take your tax refund before you are notified
THANKS
February 12th, 2009 at 11:37 am
WILL THE STIMULUS BENIFIT ME IF I RECIEVE SS/DISAB. IF SO WHAT DO I DO TO RECIEVE A REBATE. WAS TOLD THAT SOME THINGS HAVE CHANGED THIS YEAR IN IT COMES TO THE STIMULUS REBATE CHECKS.
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AS WELL AS YOUR HELP!
CHRISTY
March 27th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Hi, I was just over the lower limit in 2007, took a 15% reduction on the rebate, however at that point I was married with one child, but did not have a SSN for my child, I recived $1020 back which is 85% of 1200. My child now has a SSN so would they be eligable to recive 85% of 300 in this years taxes? Also I had a second child in 2008, so I expect I would also recived a portion of the 300 this year also. One finalal point my earnings were higher in 2008, than 2007, would the rate of reduction be caluclated off 2007 returns for both Childern or 2008? Or on in 07 and one in 08.
Thanks
May 11th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I filed my taxes for 2008 this past April, will i still get a stimulus package and if I do is there anything I need to do?
Thanks for your help
Mark