Businesses Will Be Protected From Coronavirus Related Lawsuits
This is one of the points that the House Republicans seem to be very passionate about. It was introduced under the proposed HEALS Act. The bill intends to limit coronavirus related lawsuits against schools, healthcare workers, and employers. Unless theres a case of gross negligence, these agents will be protected from lawsuits.
What If I Have Young Children At Home
The Pandemic-EBT program was created during the health crisis to provide food to families who lost access to free or reduced-price school meals. In an average month, it gives out an additional $114 per child, per month. That’s on top of regular SNAP benefits.
“This is a huge benefit increase for them,” said Lauren Bauer, a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution.
The December bill gave states some additional flexibilities to support the distribution of P-EBT benefits to school-age children and expands the program for children younger than 6 years old through September 2021, providing a lifeline for young children when childcare is closed.
A shocking number of children are facing hunger today.Lisa Davissenior vice president of the No Kid Hungry Campaign
The latest Covid relief package expands P-EBT benefits through the summer, ensuring that children will still get food assistance even when school is not in session.
Generally, benefits will be automatically sent to eligible children such as those already receiving free or reduced school lunch enrollment is not required. The money will either be loaded on a previous EBT card or on a newly issued one.
“A shocking number of children are facing hunger today,” said Davis, adding that about 17 million American children didn’t have enough to eat in 2020.
Injured Spouse Claim And Spousal Claims
The IRS also stated that If you are married filing jointly and you filed an injured spouse claim with your 2019 tax return , half of the total payment will be sent to each spouse and your spouses stimulus check payment will be offset only for past-due child support. There is no need to file another injured spouse claim for the payment. I have received dozens of comments on this this, so hopefully this answers the questions many have had based on official IRS guidance.
Note that if you were current with your child support payments at the time of the stimulus eligibility determination but fell behind afterwards due to a COVID-19 related job loss, you would still be eligible to get the full stimulus payment.
Updating Direct Deposit Information
This question has come up a lot in the hundreds of comments to this article. The IRS has setup a portal for individuals to provide their updated banking information to receive payments via direct deposit as opposed to checks in the mail. The IRS does recommend that 2018 Filers who need to change their account information or mailing address, file 2019 taxes electronically as soon as possible. That is the only way to let us know your new information. You can file for free via TurboTax.
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What’s Inside The Senate’s $2 Trillion Coronavirus Aid Package
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The Senate has passed a roughly $2 trillion coronavirus response bill intended to speed relief across the American economy. This is the third aid package from Congress and is meant to keep businesses and individuals afloat during an unprecedented freeze on the majority of American life.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described the legislation, known as the CARES Act, as necessary emergency relief and vowed to put partisanship aside to get it done.
“No economic policy can fully end the hardship so long as the public health requires that we put so much of our commerce on ice,” McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “This isn’t even a stimulus package. It is emergency relief. Emergency relief. That’s what this is.”
There are seven main groups that would see the widest-reaching impacts: individuals, small businesses, big corporations, hospitals and public health, federal safety net, state and local governments, and education.
Here’s what each group can expect if this bill becomes law.
Note: The legislation was released late Wednesday night, and official cost estimates have not yet been completed. In some cases, Congress allocated dollar figures for specific programs. The official expected costs of other programs are not yet available. This story includes some figures that are based on administration and congressional estimates.
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Child Or Dependent Qualification For The $500 Payment
Several readers have asked questions around the $500 child dependent additional stimulus payment. To get this payment you must have filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return and claimed the child as dependent ANDthe child must be younger than 17-years-old at the end of 2020. They must also be related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption . There is no limit to the number of dependents who can qualify for the additional $500 in one household.
This age limit is much younger than what is used by the IRS in the qualifying child test where a child must be younger than 19 years old or be a student younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year. Hence the confusion being caused by this. So just remember if your child or eligible dependent is 17 or over you cannot claim the stimulus payment for them.
College Kids and High School Seniors
The younger than 17 yr old requirement has ruled out several thousand college students and high school kids who are older than 17, but still being claimed as a dependent by their parents on their federal tax return.
However if you are a college student AND filed a recent tax return you can qualify for a standard/adult stimulus check per the above eligibility rules. But note as soon as you file a return you cannot be claimed as a dependent by others, which means they lose certain other tax benefits and credits.
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Impacts On Individuals And Businesses
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed new stimulus relief to bring the resources of the federal government to protect the health and well-being of all Americans.
This bill provides several key provisions for taxpayers, including direct economic relief for workers and families, an additional $284.5B for small businesses, and guidance around the deductibility of expenses with forgiven PPP funds.
The best way for advisors to prepare for this important development is to join Bob Keebler in this webcast where he will review all of the critical issues youll need to master to quickly and competently advise your clients.
- Small and medium business owners
- Other qualified professionals
- Direct economic relief for workers and families
- Unemployment benefits
- Childcare assistance
- Corporate meal expense deduction
- The total deductibility of expenses satisfied with forgiven PPP funds are provided for in the bill
- An additional $284.5B of forgivable second-draw PPP loans for small and hard-hit businesses
- The new quarterly revenue rule to even quality for a second PPP loan
- Expanded eligible expenses
- How to increase prior loans because of regulatory changes
- Special rules for farmers and ranchers
- Identify how the new tax provisions will work for taxpayers
- Recognize the types of taxpayers impacted
- Identify the details of the new benefits available
Group ordering for your team
2 to 5 registrants
6+ registrants
We can help with group discounts. Call us at or email us at
Shown Here: Public Law No: 117
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
This bill provides additional relief to address the continued impact of COVID-19 on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals, and businesses.
TITLE I–COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
Subtitle A–Agriculture
This section provides funding for FY2021 to the Department of Agriculture to purchase food and agricultural commodities purchase and distribute agricultural commodities to individuals in need provide grants and loans for small or midsized food processors or distributors, seafood processing facilities and processing vessels, farmers markets, producers, or other organizations to respond to COVID-19 and provide grants, loans, and other assistance to maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency.
The section also requires USDA to use specified amounts of the funding to conduct animal surveillance and monitoring related to COVID-19 and reduce overtime inspection costs borne by federally inspected small and very small meat, poultry, or egg processors.
This section provides funding for, and directs USDA to establish, an emergency pilot program to provide grants to certain applicants for rural health care and other rural development needs related to COVID-19.
This section provides funding for necessary administrative expenses associated with carrying out this subtitle.
Specifically, USDA must use specified amounts to
Subtitle B–Nutrition
Subtitle A–Education Matters
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Third Stimulus Bill: The American Rescue Plan Is Signed Into Law
Joe Bidens stimulus bill and $1,400 checks are on their way. Heres the latest news.
As America nears one year since Covid-19 pandemic-related shutdowns began, a third wave of stimulus support is on its way. The American Rescue Plan, an ambitious $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package first unveiled by President Biden in January 2020, has now officially been signed into law and is sure to be a centerpiece of Bidens first 100 days.
Whats in the stimulus bill? The package includes a third stimulus check for $1,400, expanded and extended unemployment insurance, and billions for schools, public health, and state and local government aid. And thats not all.
Some 280 million people will be eligible for the third round of stimulus checks, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and unlike previous direct payments, all dependents including college students and some people with disabilities, not just children under 17 will be eligible. Heres how to check if you qualify for a third stimulus payment.
Between those checks, a child allowance program to help parents, an expansion of zero-premium health care coverage to low-income Americans, housing aid, and other aspects, its one of the most ambitious anti-poverty bills in decades.
Read more for the latest news and updates on the package:
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Millions of Americans could gain health coverage under the Democrats stimulus bill.
How Is The Dependent Care Tax Credit Changed
The American Rescue Plan expands the child and dependent care credit for 2021 in several ways. First, it raises the credit percentage from 30 percent of child care expenses to 50 percent of such expenses. Second, it increases allowable child care expenses from $3,000 for one child to $8,000, and from $6,000 for 2 or more children to $16,000. These two changes result in a maximum credit of $4,000 for one child and $8,000 for two or more children . Finally, the Rescue Plan makes the credit refundable, allowing families with little tax liability to benefit from the credit.
The full credit is available to families with income under $125,000. At $125,000 the credit percentage of 50 percent begins to phase down 1 percentage point for every $2,000 of income until it plateaus at 20 percent for incomes above $185,000. This 20-percent credit rate begins phasing out for taxpayers who earn more than $400,000. Those earning more than $500,000 are not eligible for the credit.
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President Biden Announces American Rescue Plan
Emergency Legislative Package to Fund Vaccinations, Provide Immediate, Direct Relief to Families Bearing the Brunt of the COVID-19 Crisis, and Support Struggling Communities
The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding economic crisis are devastating families across the country. More than 20 million Americans have contracted COVID-19, and at least 370,000 have died. From big cities to small towns, too many Americans are barely scraping by, or not scraping by at all. And the pandemic has shined a light on the persistence of racial injustice in our healthcare system and our economy. The need to act is clear in the lines at food banks, the small businesses that are closed or closing, and the growing number of Americans experiencing housing insecurity. After nearly a year of the public health crisis, our nation remains in this dark winter of the pandemic and facing a deep economic crisis.
President Biden is laying out the first step of an aggressive, two-step plan for rescue, from the depths of this crisis, and recovery, by investing in America, creating millions of additional good-paying jobs, combatting the climate crisis, advancing racial equity, and building back better than before.
As last months jobs report underscored, the virus and our economy are intertwined. We cannot rescue our economy without containing this virus.
No Cash For The Oil Stash
What they got: The bill does not include the $3 billion Trump sought to fulfill his promise this month of filling the countrys oil stockpile right up to the top as a way to aid U.S. drillers amid a price decline. Democrats also failed to clinch language extending tax breaks for renewable energy industries.
Why it matters: This fight isnt over. Congress has made plenty of deals in the past that combine something for clean energy companies with something for the oil industry most recently in 2015 when lawmakers agreed to end a ban on oil exports and extend several tax breaks for renewable energy.
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New Stimulus Bill What You Need To Know
In this episode of Whats Ahead, I warn of a huge road bump as the economy struggles to recover from the Covid-19 lockdowns: Banks are slashing loans to consumers. Lenders say they cant decide who is creditworthy, since millions of peopleemployed and unemployed alikehave been deferring payments on some of their bills during the quarantine. Another big factor is a new accounting rule that astonishingly and perversely punishes banks for making new loans, which particularly hurts lower-income people.
What must be done quickly is clear: Repeal this idiotic accounting change, and pass new stimulus legislation that both suspends the payroll tax for a year and sends out a new batch of individual checks.
Minimal Aid For Insurers
What they got: Insurers wanted an emergency fund to offset big losses stemming from the pandemic, as well as premium subsidies to help fund temporary COBRA coverage for laid-off workers. They got none of that, although the legislation aims to protect them from price-gouging on coronavirus tests.
Why it matters: Officials in the health care industry dont really know how much money plans will lose during the crisis. While insurers are probably saving money from mass cancelations of expensive elective procedures, they are still bracing for unprecedented numbers of hospitalizations. Insurers also already got a $16 billion gift when Congress repealed Obamacares health insurance fee in December.
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When To Expect Your Stimulus Payment
Over the next few weeks, the IRS will be rolling out payments via check and direct deposit. Here are a couple of important things to keep in mind, as stated by the IRS:
- Not everyone will receive their payment at the same time. The IRS is sending out payments in batches. While the first batch of payments has gone out via direct deposit, dont worry if you havent seen it in your account yet. IRS has said that additional batches of payments via direct deposit will be sent in the coming weeks, as well as checks and debit cards.
- Some members may see funds as early as March 16 or 17. The IRS has named March 17th as the official payment date. Typically, Scott Credit Union will process payments on the date for which they are submitted. However, our team has been working hard to process these payments early to get this much-needed payment in our members hands as quickly as possible. If you are included in the IRSs first batch of payments, you can expect to see your payment either Tuesday, March 16 or Wednesday, March 17.
If you have questions about the stimulus payment, visit the IRS website to:
- See when and how your payment was sent with the Get My Payment tool
- Confirm your payment method
- Get answers to frequently asked questions about the checks
To see if a payment has been deposited in your account, here are several easy ways to view your balance and transactions:
After A Marathon Voting Session The Senate Passed Bidens Relief Package Here Are Some Key Measures
Democrats forged ahead to move President Bidens $1.9 trillion covid package through the Senate on Saturday, adopting the bill without any Republican support after a marathon debate that lasted over 24 hours.
Democrats are pledging to get the bill on Bidens desk before mid-March, when unemployment benefits expire for millions of Americans.
Heres a rundown of the Senate bill:
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Funding For Vaccines And Nursing Homes
Amid concerns about the pace of vaccine distribution in the United States, the legislation sets aside nearly $70 billion for a range of public health measures, including $20 billion for the purchase of vaccines, $8 billion for vaccine distribution, and an additional $20 billion to help states continue their test-and-trace programs.
The bill also provides money for federal Covid-19 research and will allow a federal program that insures mortgages for nursing homes to dole out emergency loans aimed at helping hard-hit elder care centers cover their costs.
Thousands Of Americans Will Get $1400 Stimulus Checks Mailed In July
But there is a deadline coming up today to be eligible for this months lottery – so you have hours to act.
To apply, you must be a Chicago resident, at least 18 years old, and have a current and valid city sticker with the correct mailing information for your vehicle.
Also, your income must be at or below 100 percent of the area median income for Chicago.
Each month until September, there will be a lottery held on the second week of the month.
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