Billions in economic stimulus payments already distributed

Economic stimulus payments continue to arrive in taxpayers' bank accounts and mail boxes. For the week ending May 23, the Treasury Department has reported that the government has distributed electronically and via mail an estimated 6.2 million economic stimulus payments totaling $4.9 billion. According to Treasury, these numbers represent the near completion of all direct deposits, with the continued mailing of paper checks. While the government started mailing paper checks on May 8, it does not anticipate finishing paper distribution until mid-summer.

Improper deposits

The IRS has reported that in a few instances, taxpayers informed the agency that their stimulus payments were not deposited to the proper bank account. The IRS is working with taxpayers on a case-by-case basis to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.

Missing child payments

Approximately 350,000 taxpayers have not received the child payment portion of their economic stimulus payment, despite qualifying for the payment. According to the IRS, these taxpayers did not check the proper box on their returns to trigger the $300 payment, or the tax preparation software they used failed to capture the proper information needed for issuing the child stimulus payments. The IRS indicated that it will send separate checks, starting in July, to cover the qualifying children payments.

Economic stimulus payments

Married couples may receive up to a $1,200 stimulus payment, and qualifying individuals up to $600. Each qualifying child entitles to caretaker to an additional $300. Rebates begin to phase- out at $75,000 of adjusted gross income (AGI) for individuals and $150,000 of AGI for married couples filing jointly. The combined basic and child rebates phase-out at five percent of the amount exceeding these applicable AGI thresholds.

For tax returns processed by the IRS by April 15, households are receiving their payments according to the last two digits of the Social Security number on their tax return. On a joint return, the first number listed will determine when a stimulus payment will be sent. However, individuals who had e-file or tax preparation fees deducted from their refunds will receive paper checks, the IRS indicated.