Other than the possible commission check or Christmas bonus at work, most individuals look forward to receiving a tax rebate each year. With all the lingering expenses from holiday shopping, entertainment, gifts, and groceries still on their credit cards, these tax relief checks can be very handy when it comes time to pay off some of these cumbersome debts. Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible to receive tax rebate checks from the Internal Revenue Service. In fact, many income tax cases often result in citizens owing the government money, rather than the government paying money out to these individuals. However this year, the U.S. government decided to issue IRS rebate checks to millions of citizens across the nation in light of the looming recession our economy is facing. These millions of individuals include those who earned money in 2007, but not necessarily enough to pay taxes on.
It all began when Congress passed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 earlier this year with the intent of boosting the U.S. economy once again. For citizens everywhere, this meant the possibility of obtaining IRS stimulus checks. It was decided that the groups deemed eligible to receive an IRS stimulus payment included the following:
- Citizens who paid taxes in 2007
- Senior citizens
- Disabled veterans
- Widows of veterans
To help people have a better understanding of how the process has been working, the following is a rough break down of how the U.S. government has been dividing up the tax rebate checks being issued to citizens:
- Most people have been receiving IRS stimulus checks in the amount ranging from $600-$1,200. However, there are some exceptions to this. For instance, individuals who made at least $3,000 last year, but didn’t pay federal income taxes on it can only receive about $300.
- Citizens who paid federal income taxes in 2007 and made at least $3,000 from their place of employment are entitled to receive tax rebate checks for the maximum amount of $600 per individual or $1,200 per joint filers.
- For individuals with children, an additional $300 is included in the tax rebates per dependent child.
- The IRS rebate checks begin to phase out for individuals with adjusted gross incomes adding up to over $75,000. The same rule holds true for joint filers with adjusted gross incomes of over $150,000.
The government began issuing these IRS stimulus checks in May of 2008 based on the last two digits of citizens’ social security numbers, which explains why some individuals may have received their tax rebate earlier than others. While the use of direct deposit has been the main source of delivering the tax rebate checks to citizens; paper checks are also being issued to those who qualify for a refund. The good news is that these unexpected, yet welcomed tax rebate checks have also encouraged many individuals to file their income taxes as soon as possible. As for those who may have missed out on the tax rebate, or only received a partial amount, a second chance at possibly qualifying will be granted during returns which are filed in 2009.