The IRS continues to update their FAQs about the stimulus checks and has now stated that If you owe federal taxes from previous tax years or have other debts you owe such as a student loan or child support, those uncollected amounts can be taken from your rebate check.
According to the IRS, everyone eligible for a check will receive a notice shortly after your payment has been issued that explains how your payment was calculated. If you're someone whose payment was reduced to offset back taxes or other debts, you'll receive a separate notice from the IRS a couple of weeks after you've gotten your rebate check and first notice. Make sure you hold on to any notice you receive for your records.
Seafolly
I noticed today that they pushed back the mail dates another week. They say they won't even mail 00-20 until May 16 now!!
1Also, if you filed your taxes using Turbo Tax or another online filer and had the fee taken directly out of your refund amount but had the refund direct deposited you will receive your economic stimulus check by mail, not direct deposit.
2Thankfully this doesn't affect me.
3Thanks for the info Roarman, I was wondering why I have not received mine. No biggie, I can wait. Weird, I know people who received letters saying they were getting $600 and then got direct deposit of $300.
4still wish I was getting one...so as someone who isn't and doesn't think that economic stimulus checks are going to help our economy at all, I am glad that the gov't is at least not giving (the full amount or any) money to people who owe in the first place.
5I'm confused about the student loan part - I still owe about $5k for my loans. I hope they're not going to take my $600 and give it to Sallie Mae.
6Wow, I guess more and more changes with these rebate checks everyday it seems!
7I got my refund deposited last week. No letter explaining the amount, and nothing taken out for student loans.
8I think student loans would only be taken out if you were in default
9I don't believe this affects me.
10I received mine and it's going towards rent.
11I only got $300 instead of $600 aswell; but it better than nothing I guess.
12I got my letter today and I got the same amount that they deposited. Thanks for reiterating that I need to hang on to that letter, Savvy!
13FOR THOSE THAT ARE STILL LOST I WANT TO INFORM YOU THAT IF YOU USED TURBO TAX, JACKSON HEWITT MONEY CARD OR ANY KIND OF CARD TO HAVE REFUND PUT ON OR ANY OTHER SOURCE THAT DEDUCTED FEES FROM THE ACTUAL REFUND FROM 2007 TAXES YOU WILL BE GETTING YOUR REBATE BY MAIL
14i just realized that i got my stimulus check...i was wondering why my acct balance seemed high and thought that my rent check hadn't been cashed yet.
oh well. good to have free money i guess.
15What happens if you used TurboTax to complete the paperwork but then mailed it in instead of filing electronically? This would mean there was no fee. I can't seem to find the answer to this question anywhere.
16Yeah, and we also get taxed next year for this rebate check. Sounds like this isn't as good as I thought it was going to be. Go figure, what else can we expect from our wonderful *cough* government?
On the other hand, it's a good thing me and my husband don't have any debts or anything like that. And yeah, our receiving date got pushed back to June. AAARRRRGGG.
17What we plan on doing with our stimulus/surplus check:
Me:
glasses (then finally get license!!!)
paying on this damn verizon wireless bill
bathing suit
Husband:
new computer
and(he's also going to take me out to a really expensive restaurant)
teehee
18I really hope that the reason I haven't seen mine yet is b/c of filing w/TT and paying the fee online. I know others who did the same though and they got theirs last Friday through direct deposit! Hhhhmmmmmm....
19I was one of those people who didn't read the fine print with Turbo Tax. They way it was explained to me was if I paid the Turbo Tax fees up front, I would have gotten my money by direct deposit. Because I choose to get it taken out later, it is going to be sent in the mail. Basically the "bank" (loan company) Turbo Tax uses is considered 3rd party and the IRS never sees our bank information on our filed paperwork.
20@kythera: This is from the IRS website:
What is it? It's an economic stimulus payment that more than 130 million households will receive starting in May. It's not taxable, and it won't reduce your 2007 or 2008 refund or increase the amount you owe when you file your 2008 return.
Another page on the IRS website lists the following:
Q. Is my stimulus payment taxable?
A. No. You will not owe tax on your payment when you file your 2008 federal income tax return. But you should keep a copy of the IRS letter you receive later this year listing the amount of your payment.
Q. If my stimulus payment is not going to affect my 2008 tax refund or increase the tax I owe next year, why is it I need to retain the letter that lists how much I received?
A. In the event you do not qualify for the full amount on your 2007 return but you do on your 2008 return, you will need to have the letter as a record of the amount you previously received. [New 4/11/08]
Q. Will the payment I receive in 2008 reduce my 2008 refund or increase the amount I owe for 2008?
A. No, the stimulus payment will not reduce your refund or increase the amount you owe when you file your 2008 return.
21Already got mine in full. Whoopie! Altho I got a good laugh out of this:
"...if you owe federal taxes from previous tax years or have other debts you owe such as a student loan or child support, those uncollected amounts can be taken from your rebate check."
Deadbeats.
22I'm glad that they will be taking it from deadbeat dads and taxpayers. These people should be glad the government didn't debit $300-$600 or more out of their bank accounts or monthly paychecks. They shouldn't be complaining at all that they recieved less or nothing at all. In a way they're getting off easy with the government doing that too them.
23The amount will also be reduced by the amount of child tax credit you got in 2008. Ours was reduced from $1500 to $928, and the amount it was reduced by was exactly the amount of our child tax credit. Blah. That's something that they didn't tell you would happen!
24Why did my husband and I only get $1014? We thought we would get $1200. We don't have kids or any debts including student loans!
25To find out how much you will be getting on your rebate check go to www.irs.gov and use the stimulus payment calculator. If you owe anything for defaulted student loans or back taxes, do not expect your mailing or deposit date to be what the schedule says. My friend just talked to the IRS and they said that if you have an offset coming out, it does not get calculated until the day you are expected to receive your check. You will get your rebate approximately 10 to 14 days later than expected if you owe. This is what she was told by the IRS.
26I am going to buy crack with mine...LOL
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