THIS is why your third $1,400 stimulus check may be less than your previous relief payments. As relief money is being distributed across America and financial experts are giving advice on what to do with the $1,400 stimulus checks, some eligible taxpayers might be confused when they receive less than expected. Some people could receive […]
THIS is why your third $1,400 stimulus check may be less than your previous relief payments.
As relief money is being distributed across America and financial experts are giving advice on what to do with the $1,400 stimulus checks, some eligible taxpayers might be confused when they receive less than expected.
Some people could receive stimulus checks worth less than the amount determined in President Joe Biden’s $1.9trillion Covid relief package.
Anyone who saw their income drop in 2020 and still haven’t filed their 2020 tax returns could get less than $1,400, CBS News reported.
According to the news outlet: “This could happen for a single person who earned $90,000 in 2019, which is above the cutoff of $80,000 to receive a payment, but lost their job in 2020 and only earned $45,000 last year as a result.”
The report explained how the Internal Revenue Service uses 2019 tax returns when calculating checks for people who have yet to file their 2020 tax returns – which could show they aren’t eligible.
However, IRS and Treasury officials have revealed that once a 2020 tax return is filed with an eligible (lower) income, a stimulus payment will then be issued.
The IRS has advised anyone who “didn’t get any payments or got less than the full amounts” to check if they qualify for the Recovery Rebate Credit.
It explained they “must file a 2020 tax return to claim the credit even if you don’t normally file.”
Meanwhile, TURBOTAX and H&R Block customers took to social media on Thursday to express their rage after a glitch caused their stimulus checks be sent to the wrong accounts.
Dozens of people who filed tax returns through the two companies are struggling to receive their $1,400 coronavirus relief payments for the second time in three months.
Several customers told CNBC their money was wrongly deposited in temporary pass through accounts the tax companies had set up for them in the past.
This is the exact same glitch that happened to more than 13 million taxpayers when the federal government issued $600 checks back in mid-January.
After that incident, both TurboTax and H&R Block sought to assure customers that they had worked with the IRS to fix the issue, and that their third stimulus checks would be directed in the correct place.
“We are working closely with the IRS, and we’ve confirmed that the IRS has accurate bank account information for all TurboTax customers,” TurboTax said last week as the IRS began rolling out payments.
The IRS set the official payment date as March 17, however by Thursday morning hundreds have complained on social media that they either still haven’t received the payment or cannot access the funds.
This week, a financial guru warned Americans that the latest round of the stimulus checks would go a long way – but said it would be safer to build a rainy day fund instead of spending it or paying off debt.
“For years, I always said eight months,” Orman said in a video on CNBC. “And for years, you know how many other people went you don’t need eight months, all you need is three months, all you need is six months.”
Orman then starts recounting the start of the pandemic, when people thought it would be quickly over.
“What happened last year? Three months would have gone in three months, and then what would you have done?” Orman says.
“Six months would have lasted you. And now it’s passed that eight months wasn’t even enough.”
