Many Americans woke up to a nice surprise this past week. They received the direct deposit of their “Economic Impact Payments”. As most of you are probably aware, the economic impact payments were included as part of the 2020 CARES Act which injected cash to the tune of $2 trillion back into the national economy during this time of crisis through loan programs aimed at businesses, as well as direct stimulus payments made to individuals and families.
The basics of the program are that the IRS bases your program eligibility and amount due on the filing status and Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) from your most recently filed tax return (2018 or 2019). If you are filing single and had AGI less than $75k, you are eligible to receive $1,200. If file taxes as married and joint, you would need to have household AGI less than $150k to get the full benefit of $1,200 per adult. Also, you would receive an additional $500 per child dependent 16 years of age or younger that you claimed on your most recently filed tax return. There is a phaseout range for a reduced amount (single $75k-$99k and married $150k-$198k). AGI outside of the top end of these ranges results in not receiving a stimulus payment.
If you feel that you are eligible to receive this benefit, but did not receive yours last week when it came through for others- Don’t worry! The IRS has only sent out one wave of payments which we are now learning went to people who filed and received a refund by direct deposit in either 2018 or 2019. If you had a tax liability due after filing and paid by either sending a check or through direct withdrawal with the IRS, they are now telling us that they will not automatically use the bank information on file that was used for making a payment as the account to deposit your stimulus payment. If you are in this group, you will need to access the new IRS “Get My Payment” tool and update your bank information on file if you wish to receive your payment by direct deposit. If you do not update the banking information that the IRS has on file, you will receive a paper check which will be a much slower method. See link below.
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment
If you enter your personal information and receive an error message, also Don’t Worry. This message does not necessarily mean that you are ineligible to receive the stimulus payment. The IRS has announced some issues with the “Get My Payment” tool and say that an individual should check back once per day to access and update their information as the IRS adds access for more taxpayers to this system.
-WB