McClatchy: How to get your tax-rebate cash from Uncle Sam

[babylonsister]

How to get your tax-rebate cash from Uncle Sam
By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008



WASHINGTON — President Bush signed a stimulus plan into law Wednesday that seeks to spark the economy with tax rebates for consumers and tax relief for businesses. Here's a closer look at how the rebates will work.

Q: Who qualifies for a check?

A: Individual tax filers with earned incomes above $3,000 but less than $75,000 in 2007 will receive $300 to $600 checks. For joint filers with adjusted gross incomes up to $150,000, the checks range from $600 to $1,200. For filers with children who have valid Social Security numbers, there also will be rebates of $300 per child.

Because of an omission when the bill was drafted, the Internal Revenue Service can't say yet whether the cutoff to qualify for child tax rebates is children who turned 17 in 2007 or in 2008. The answer is expected later this week.

Q: What if my/our income exceeds the caps?

A: There will be partial rebates for higher adjusted gross incomes, up to $87,000 for individual filers and $174,000 for joint filers. In a small number of cases, filers with incomes above those thresholds who have children may qualify for some rebate.

Q: What if I don't have earned income?

A: For Americans who live on benefit checks from Social Security or the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for some retired railway workers, there will be refund checks of $300 as long as the sum of their benefit checks in 2007 exceeded $3,000.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/27619.html

[NMDemDist2]

1. so I send them $400 on April 15th and they send me back $600 of which

I'll have to pay back next year

do I have that right?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. No, they're saying if you owe money, they'll take it out of your refund.

I think you'd just wait for your $200.

[NMDemDist2]

10. well now that would be pretty cool if I don't have to come up with the cash in April n/t

[NMDemDist2]

12. the press release says "file as usual" and 'usually' I'd be sending money

:shrug:

they say they're sending out letters so I can wait...

[juajen]

4. No, there is no payback according to an article I read on Yahoo.

The article said this was not an advance, but a true rebate.

[NMDemDist2]

14. so I don't send my $$$, they just send me the difference? n/t

[newportdadde]

3. This is key looks like it is not an advance.

Q: Will this check count against my tax refund next year?

A: No. The stimulus checks won't be treated as taxable income in 2008, nor will they be treated as early refunds subtracted from the 2008 tax year. They're bonus checks whose value is determined by the adjusted gross income on 2007 tax returns.

Of course at the rate the fed is going this is all turning into monopoly money anyways.

[Bill McBlueState]

5. in principle, I oppose this

As deep in the hole as the country is, thanks to the Iraq disaster, giving everyone hundreds of dollars out of the treasury hardly seems like a responsible thing to do.

But my family's in a tight spot right now, so I'll take our $1500 to the bank. Yay, I guess.

Thanks for the link, by the way. That's the most helpful explanation of the rebates I've seen yet.

[babylonsister]

6. I think it's ludicrous myself. I doubt anyone will be going shopping

with it. They'll be paying bills, buying gas and groceries, etc. I just don't get how anyone thinks this will stimulate the economy, unless Exxon/Mobil applies.

[hfojvt]

9. actually buying anything without having to add to your debt

is an economic stimulus. Even people like me, who just put it in the bank, will create an economic stimulus because that bank thereby has another $300 (or $600) that they can lend out. However, that process creates more of a delay than spending the money would.

So that is not my objection to this nonsense. My objections are:

1. Money goes to people irregardless of need
2. more money goes to richer people - I get $300 (or $600? I am not sure what the process is for determining who gets $300 and who gets $600.) and a single guy making $60,000 a year gets $600 (he/she definitely gets the $600) and a family of four making $130,000 a year gets $1800. That's why I call it "Temporary Assistance for Rich Families". I am not sure what a family of four making $30,000 a year gets, maybe $600. Will they get the $300 per child since they pay no income tax?
3. This takes place too late unlike unemployment extension, LIHEAP, and food stamps which Pelosi knocked off the table in her brilliant "negotiating" (19 for Republicans, one for Democrats, way to fu$%ing compromise.) That money could goto people who need it in about 3 weeks and stimulate the economy right now. Instead people who may or may not need it will get checks in May - three months from now.
4. It's too darn tiny. Imagine somebody who has been unemployed for a while and his/her benefits will run out in one week. With extended benefits, he/she could get $200-400 per week for another 12 weeks. That could be as much as $4800 in assistance instead of a mere $600.

[SoCalDem]

13. Yup.. just a way to pay for gas & rent(or part of it) for a month

whoopee..

Like you, we don't "need" this...but we have to pay for a rehearsal dinner for 40 people (son's getting married in May), so we'll use it for that.. we would have paid cash anyway, so I guess Uncle Sam's subsidizing my son's marriage-a-palooza :)

[SoCalDem]

11. ShellChevronExxonMobilBP thanks you for your support

They are nice folks, dontchaknow, and they are just a struggling Mom&Pop business, trying their best to help YOU live your life..

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. thanks for the information

looks like the Democratic Party will be getting a nice check from me when I get this rebate. Gonna donate a chunk to local races and progressive races throughout the country.

[Javaman]

8. Take it an invest in Euros. nt