Apr 1, 2020

Great Work Everybody

     From your friends at the I.R.S.:
The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service today announced that distribution of economic impact payments will begin in the next three weeks and will be distributed automatically, with no action required for most people. However, some seniors and others who typically do not file returns will need to submit a simple tax return to receive the stimulus payment. ...
How will the IRS know where to send my payment? 
The vast majority of people do not need to take any action. The IRS will calculate and automatically send the economic impact payment to those eligible. 
For people who have already filed their 2019 tax returns, the IRS will use this information to calculate the payment amount. For those who have not yet filed their return for 2019, the IRS will use information from their 2018 tax filing to calculate the payment. The economic impact payment will be deposited directly into the same banking account reflected on the return filed. 
The IRS does not have my direct deposit information. What can I do? 
In the coming weeks, Treasury plans to develop a web-based portal for individuals to provide their banking information to the IRS online, so that individuals can receive payments immediately as opposed to checks in the mail. 
I am not typically required to file a tax return. Can I still receive my payment? 
Yes. People who typically do not file a tax return will need to file a simple tax return to receive an economic impact payment. Low-income taxpayers, senior citizens, Social Security recipients, some veterans and individuals with disabilities who are otherwise not required to file a tax return will not owe tax. 
How can I file the tax return needed to receive my economic impact payment? 
IRS.gov/coronavirus will soon provide information instructing people in these groups on how to file a 2019 tax return with simple, but necessary, information including their filing status, number of dependents and direct deposit bank account information. ...
     Of course, Social Security’s databases have the needed information for those receiving benefits but that would be too easy. Let’s make sure we harass poor elderly and suck people and prevent as many of them as possible from getting the payments.
     Also, who were the Democratic staffers involved with this negotiation? What were they thinking?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Of course, Social Security's databases have the needed information for those receiving benefits...."

Citation please? Social Security maintains a lot of information about beneficiaries. But I think you're greatly overestimating its overlap with the information collected by the IRS.

Anonymous said...

I do not see why people on benefits should even get a check, they havent been laid off, the income they have has not been interrupted. So if they have to do something to get additional governmental funds then so be it.

Anonymous said...

@8:24AM People who are still working are going to get a disbursement, so why exclude those on disability?

Anonymous said...

@8:24 - dont forget, part of the reason EVERYONE is getting a check is twofold - for some families it tides them over while they are not working. For others, it encourages purchases/ordering food from restaurants/etc to help the economy and the businesses still running. So, giving people on disability an extra check helps them spend money. Kind of why those of us who are still working and doing ok are getting a check too. Plus, a lot of people on disability get financial help from a family member (you try living on $1,200 a month with no help). That family may not be able to assist in the middle of this huge economic downturn.

Anonymous said...

@8:24

Because providing additional disposable income to an individual increases consumer spending, and that remains true regardless of if their income was interrupted.

@9:10

Because 8:24 thinks this is just about covering unemployment, as opposed to providing a stimulus.

Anonymous said...

If a tax return must be filed to get the $1200, this will be hard for all the older people on checks. The agencies that usually do this are closed to the public.

Anonymous said...

Also, not everyone on Social Security is on Disability. I am on Social Security Retirement, (started at age 70) and I am working. I am a practicing attorney in the Social Security Disability field. Payments from Social Security for my work has been extremely spotty.

Anonymous said...

7:59 - Wow, feeling feisty are we? SSA is the source of all the wage data the IRS gets, and a little common sense would pull these obvious facts to the forefront - SSA pays benefits and payments to people from SSA and SSI based programs. It knows who those people are, it knows their SSNs, their mailing address and names, and their direct deposit information. They know this because they send tapes to the Treasury each month to pay those payments and benefits. So for this population segment of the American public, SSA has enough information on hand to identify these people and how to pay them so that the IRS and Treasury can run that against their own files to eliminate duplicate payments and then pay most folks without anyone doing anything extra. I mean, it isn't really rocket science. And it's decades old tech to do so.

At least in the last few hours, this policy of filing something online apparently has been rescinded.

Jim said...

How fast do you need to file a 2019 tax return to __prevent__ a stimulus check?

My 2018 tax return reported a low income reflecting that I was unemployed for most of the year. This low income number would entitle me to a stimulus check.

In 2019 I was fully employed and remain so (fingers crossed). I am about to mail my 2019 tax return that would deny me a stimulus check, but I fear I will receive a stimulus check anyway.

Anonymous said...

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm967

Anonymous said...

The bill gave SSA and IRS all the tools they needed to send checks to Social Security beneficiaries automatically. If you're looking for someone to blame, don't blame staffers.

Anonymous said...

If a person is in long term care and the facility is getting the SSA check do they get the stimulus check too?

Anonymous said...

9:18 The long term care facility gets paid by the amount of the income of the patient, which is often just the Social Security check. The long term care facility should not be getting this money paid to them directly by SSA. Facilities are usually not the preferred representative payee. The money should be going into the individual's bank account and then paid to the facility. There is supposed to be someone in between the patient and the facility who manages the money and makes decisions about it. Like paying the facility.

Anonymous said...

8:08 if a person is on Medicaid/Medicare for LTC the check from SSA goes directly to the facility. Every single time.