Stimulus Check: Heres Why You Should File Your Taxes Early
Its always a good idea to file your taxes early, Ned Flanders-style, but theres an extra reason that even folks who normally procrastinate should get their returns in pronto this year. It has to do with the IRSs dual role as tax agency and distributor of COVID-19 economic stimulus payments. Basically, it means that any yet unpaid stimulus payments whether it be the $600 check from January or the upcoming $1,400 check are tied to your most recent tax returns. Thats especially important if, say, you earned less in 2020 than you did in 2019.
And that means that filing early to get your tax return faster also means getting your missing stimulus payment faster. And if you owe taxes to the government, the stimulus it owes you could dent or even wipe out that deficit.
Heres what you need to know about the relationship between taxes and stimulus paymentsknown to the IRS as the Recovery Rebate Creditincluding if you are owed more money and how to get it.
Will You Have To Pay Taxes On Your Stimulus Checks
In response to the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Congress authorized a series of stimulus payments for Americans in 2020 and 2021.
As they were sent out in the midst of global upheaval, many Americans gladly accepted them without fully understanding the ultimate ramifications. The good news is that Congress sent out the payments with no strings attached. Heres what youll need to know when you file your return for tax year 2021.
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How Much Were The Stimulus Checks
The first round of stimulus checks were paid to people beginning in April 2020. Those checks were up to $1,200 per eligible adult and up to $500 for each dependent child under 16.
The second round of stimulus checks were paid to people beginning in December 2020. Those checks were up to $600 per eligible adult and up to $600 for each dependent child under 17.
The third round of stimulus checks were paid to people beginning in March 2021. Those checks were up to $1,400 per eligible adult and up to $1,400 for each dependent child, regardless of age.
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Didn’t Get The Full Third Payment Claim The 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit
You may be eligible to claim a 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2021 federal tax return.
Individuals can view the total amount of their third Economic Impact Payments through their individual Online Account. Through March 2022, we’ll also send Letter 6475 to the address we have on file for you confirming the total amount of your third Economic Impact Payment and any plus-up payments you received for tax year 2021.
You will need this information from your online account or your letter to accurately calculate your 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit when you file your 2021 federal tax return in 2022. For married filing joint individuals, each spouse will need to log into their own online account or review their own letter for their half of the total payment. All amounts must be considered if filing jointly.
Using the total amount of the third payment from your online account or Letter 6475 when preparing a tax return can reduce errors and avoid delays in processing while the IRS corrects the tax return.
I Get Ssi Should I Spend The Stimulus Money Within A Year What Can I Spend It On
Spend down your CARES Act EIP money before 12 months have passed since receiving the payment. You are not limited in what you can spend the money on. You can spend down on whatever you wish, including on gifts and charitable contributions. If you don’t spend it within 12 months, the Social Security Administration will count the money as a resource.
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Consumer Protections And Scams: What Should I Know About The Economic Impact Payment Or Stimulus Check If I Do Not Regularly File Taxes
Who does NOT regularly have to file taxes and is considered a non-filer for purposes of the stimulus payments?
Non-filers include all of the following groups of people:
- Anyone who receives IRS Form SSA-1099
- Anyone who receives Form RRB-1099
- Anyone whose only income is Supplemental Security Income
- Anyone who receive veterans disability compensation, pension or survivor benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs and did not file a tax return for the 2018 or 2019 tax years
- Anyone who earned income under $12,200 if single or $24,400 if married during the 2019 tax year
What is the purpose of the economic impact payment, also knows as a stimulus check?
On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stimulus CARES Act became law. This law created a one-time payment to many people in the United States from the federal government. The reason for the payment is to help people financially who face economic hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The government also wants to boost spending power and spur economic activity.
Who is eligible for the economic impact payment?
Any individual in the United States is eligible for the payment except someone who is a nonresident alien or a person who can be claimed as someone elses dependent.
How much is the payment?
- Individuals who report adjusted gross income up to $75,000 on their tax returns will receive $1,200.
- Parents or caregivers may receive up to $500 for each qualifying child claimed as a dependent.
Find Out Which Payments You Received
To find the amounts of your Economic Impact Payments, check:
Your Online Account: Securely access your individual IRS account online to view the total of your first, second and third Economic Impact Payment amounts under the Economic Impact Payment Information section on the Tax Records page.
IRS EIP Notices: We mailed these notices to the address we have on file.
- Notice 1444: Shows the first Economic Impact Payment sent for tax year 2020
- Notice 1444-B: Shows the second Economic Impact Payment sent for tax year 2020
- Notice 1444-C: Shows the third Economic Impact Payment sent for tax year 2021
Letter 6475: Through March 2022, we’ll send this letter confirming the total amount of the third Economic Impact Payment and any plus-up payments you received for tax year 2021.
You will need the total payment information from your online account or your letter to accurately calculate your Recovery Rebate Credit. For married filing joint individuals, each spouse will need to log into their own online account or review their own letter for their half of the total payment.
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Does Getting A Stimulus Payment Mean A Smaller Tax Refund Next Year
You may have seen some claims spreading on social media that the stimulus payments are simply a refund advance, and will be taken out of your tax refund for 2020. Thats not the case. The stimulus payment is an advance of an entirely new credit, Allec said.
He shared this example: Say the stimulus payments didnt exist and you would be eligible for a $1,000 refund on your 2020 tax return.
Now lets come back to reality where the stimulus does exist and you were eligible for a $1,200 payment in 2020. In this case, the refund reflected on your 2020 tax return would be $2,200 . However, the government already sent you that extra $1,200 in advance in the form of a stimulus check.
So now, all else being equal, you would receive the same $1,000 refund on your tax return that you would have received if the new tax credit had never been created.
In other words, if you qualified for a stimulus payment in 2020, your refund this year will actually be larger than usual, but you got that extra chunk last year. Alternatively, if you owe taxes, your tax liability will be reduced in the same manner. And the same is true for 2021 taxes: If you received stimulus payments this year, youll officially claim that credit when your file taxes in 2022.
What If My Spouse Or Ex
If you did not get all or some portion of your Economic Impact Payments you can file a 2020 tax return and claim these amounts on line 30 of the form. The IRS is referring to this as the recovery rebate and will allow you to claim any of the EIPs that you did not get in advance. You may get a denial letter from the IRS, but that is the opportunity to reply and explain your situation to the IRS. In this situation, Vermonters with a low income can contact us for help at the Vermont Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic by filling out our form or calling 1-800-889-2047.
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Who Should Use The Non
The people who should use the Non-Filers form are the U.S. citizens and permanent residents who had a total gross income of below $12,200, or below $24,400 for couples, in 2019. In addition, people who were not otherwise required to file taxes for 2019 will also use this form.
People who are receiving Social Security retirement, disability , or survivor benefits, and those receiving Railroad Retirement and Survivor Benefits, will not have to use the form to receive $1,200, but they may do so to claim a $500 payment for each qualifying child under 17 years old.
When Could The Stimulus Payments Start
Following approval of the bill on March 11th, millions of Americans will start seeing the third stimulus payments by mid-to-late March 2021 per the estimated IRS payment schedule and official Biden administration guidance. Comments below confirm these are going out now. You can also check the IRS Get May Payment tool for the latest status of your payment. See payment FAQs from the second round of payments, which will also apply for the most part this time around.
Due to the fact that payments are going out in the middle of tax season it may be very hard to get a hold of someone in the IRS to help with payment issues and you will likely have to wait until after April 15th to follow up on issues.
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How To Claim Your Missing Third Stimulus Payment On Your 2021 Tax Return
Youâll need to request any missing third stimulus payments on your 2021 tax return by claiming the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit.
This is the case if you received a partial amount or didnât previously qualify for the third stimulus payment.
Letâs say youâre single and your income for the 2020 and 2019 tax years exceeds the threshold . However, you lost your job in 2021, so your income drastically decreased. You can now claim the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit since your earnings fell below the threshold.
Families that added dependents may also be able to claim the credit.
In addition, a few lingering taxpayers who file taxes using ITINs may not have received payments for their eligible dependents who have Social Security numbers.
You need to complete the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit worksheet and submit it along with your 2021 tax return. If you use a tax software program, it should guide you through the process. Keep in mind, the IRS predicted a frustrating and slow tax season this year, so file your return as soon as possible.
Before completing the worksheet, you must know the amount of any third stimulus payments received for you, your spouse, and any dependents. The worksheet will also request your adjusted gross income for the year to determine your eligibility.
The IRS started mailing Letter 6475 to taxpayers in Januaryâthe letter confirms the total amount of the third stimulus payments received for the 2021 tax year.
What If I Didnt Get Some Or All Of My Stimulus Checks
If you think you are eligible and you did not get a check for you or your dependents, you can still get the money by filing your 2020 or 2021 taxes. You may be eligible for free tax preparation help from Maines CA$H Coalition.
If you do not usually file a tax return and didn’t get your stimulus checks, you may still be able to file a tax return this year to get your stimulus checks. You should check with a tax professional. The IRS website also provides information about how to claim your stimulus checks if you didnt get them in 2020 or 2021. You can also call Pine Tree Legal Assistance.
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What About On Social Security Or Ssdi
Social Security recipients, disability , Survivor Beneficiaries and Railroad Retirees who are not otherwise required to file a tax return will also be eligible for the stimulus payments, as long as their total income does not exceed the eligibility income limits above. The IRS in conjunction with the Treasury and Social Security Administration announced that recipients of Supplemental Security Income will automatically receive the $1200 Stimulus Check . See details here. This group of recipients will receive the stimulus check the same way they currently get their federal benefits in early May with no further action needed on their part.
However note that because the IRS has no information regarding dependent data for this group of recipients, the $500 kid dependent stimulus payment would not be automatically paid to this group. They need to use the non-filers tool on the IRS website to claim this.
When Did Eip1 From The Cares Act Arrive
The IRS began sending economic impact payments in April of 2020 most taxpayers did not need to take any action to receive their payment.
The Department of the Treasury used info from 2019 tax returns to determine AGI, qualifying children, and whether to send payments by check or direct deposit. If you hadnt filed your 2019 taxes, your 2018 tax return information was used.
The Get My Payment tool allowed taxpayers to choose how to receive their EIP, and the tool also helped track stimulus payments. Get My Payment no longer has information for EIP1, but you can access your EIP1 info via an Online Account at IRS.gov.
Note: You may need to set up an ID.me account to get an Online Account, but the IRS will be transitioning away from facial recognition technology by the end of February 2022.
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How Do I Know If I’m Eligible For A Third Stimulus Payment
For the first and second stimulus checks, whether you were eligible for any stimulus money depended on whether you were considered a dependent and the amount of your AGI from your federal tax filing. Your AGI is your gross income minus any eligible adjustments that you may qualify for. Since the tax deadline has been extended to May 17, the IRS is likely to use your 2019 tax return, if you file taxes.
If you have a pension or investments that are taxable, those will affect your AGI, and therefore your eligibility for a stimulus check. The same is true for interest from a bank account. Interest from tax-exempt bonds isn’t included in your AGI, however, so it wouldn’t affect your stimulus payment eligibility.
For the third stimulus check, some of the eligibility rules changed in the final version of the bill — read on for more, and use our third stimulus check calculator to see if you qualify based on income limits. Here are stimulus calculators for the first and second checks, respectively.
Who’s Eligible For The Payment
Those eligible for the money could include people whose tax situation changed in 2021, but the change was not reflected in their latest tax return.
For example, parents who welcomed a child in 2021 may be eligible for the $1,400 payments as long as they meet income requirements.
Eligibility for the third round of stimulus checks, issued earlier this year as part of President Joe Biden‘s American Rescue Plan, was based on a family’s last tax return filed.
Since babies born in 2021 were not factored in, the $1,400 checks will be applied to their parent or guardian’s 2021 tax return.
Others may be eligible for more money as well due to a change in income or the addition of a dependent.
Payments begin to phase out for people who make more than those income limits.
They completely phase out for individuals who make more than $80,000 and couples who make more than $160,000.
The number of families still owed a $1,400 stimulus check is not yet known but it is estimated to be in the millions.
The figure wont be known until the total number of births for 2021 is revealed.
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Second Stimulus Checks & Us Expats: What You Should Know
Q. What was the second stimulus check?
A. The second stimulus check was part of a December 2020 government relief package to provide financial relief to Americans during the pandemic. The relief package included $600 direct payments to each person with a Social Security Number who cannot be claimed as a dependent and earned under a certain amount of income. It also included up to $600 payments for each qualifying child under age 17.
Q. Did I get a second stimulus check if Im an American living overseas?
A. Yes, expats qualified for the second stimulus check. You qualified if you fall within the income threshold, have a social security number, and file taxes even if you live overseas.
Q. Did I need to sign up for it or sign off on it?
A. Most people didnt need to do anything to receive the second stimulus because the IRS based the payments off of 2019 tax returns. If you didnt file a 2019 return, you may be able to claim it on your 2020 tax return as a Recovery Rebate Credit.
Q. If I live abroad, when should I have gotten my second stimulus check if I qualified?
A. All of the second stimulus payments have gone out. Most people got a direct deposit.