Economic stimulus payments of $600 were scheduled for direct deposit Monday by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, with advisory notices showing up as texts or email notices on many Highland County phones and computers on New Year’s Day.
According to Forbe’s magazine, the first people to receive the second round of stimulus funding from the recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act were those who had already file direct deposit information with the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS said that direct deposit payments began on Dec. 29, and woud continue into the first week of January, with payments being distributed either by direct deposit or as a paper check or debit card through the mail.
The agency said that those that have a bank account on file with the IRS should check that account to see if the second round of what is officially known as the Economic Impact Payment had arrived.
In general, natural born U.S. citizens or resident aliens earning a certain amount of money and are not eligible to be claimed as an adult dependent on someone else’s income tax return is eligible for the Economic Impact Payment.
Forbe’s said that the amount of the payments for the second round of stimulus payments was half the amount that was paid out last April: $600 for individuals or $1,200 for married couples, with an additional $600 payment for each qualifying child.
As with the first round of last year’s stimulus payments, Forbe’s said that this round was intended to help low and middle-income Americans, and was based on taxpayers’ 2019 adjusted gross income (AGI).
The IRS said that individuals with AGI of up to $75,000 would receive the full $600, while married couples filing jointly and surviving spouses who had 2019 AGI’s of up to $150,000 will also receive full payments.
Payments will decrease by $5 per $100 in AGI above those limits, and would phase out completely at $87,000 AGI for individuals, and a couple that filed a joint return in 2019 and earned $174,000 AGI or higher also would not receive the stimulus payment.
If a person is expecting a stimulus payment, but hasn’t received it by direct deposit in early January, the IRS said that would mean the payment was coming through the mail in the form of either a paper check or debit card.
Forbe’s indicated that those people who did not file a 2019 federal income tax return and also didn’t register for the IRS Non-Filers tool before Nov. 21, 2020, may not receive an automatic payment for the second round of stimulus payments.
Those that did not receive the stimulus payment may be eligible to claim what they feel they are owed as a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2020 federal income tax return.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
