June 1 Update
Most people have received their stimulus payments at this point. If you have not received a payment you can still go here and check on the status of your payment.
You can no longer enter your checking account information with IRS in order to get your stimulus payment via direct deposit.
If you have not received your payment there is not much we can do. It is not much comfort, but there will be an adjustment on your 2020 tax return since the payment is actually a 2020 credit.
Please send me a note if you have questions.
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Ok, here is the quick and dirty on the Covid-19 stimulus bill passed late Wednesday night.
Most adults will get a $1200 payment from the federal government. If those adults have children, the adult will receive an additional $500 per child.
There are limits on these payments. The limits are based on your income and filing status.
If you filed as Single and your income was under $75,000, you will receive the full $1200.
If you filed as Single and your income was above $99,000 you will not receive a stimulus payment.
If you filed as Single and your income was between $75,000 and $99,000 you will get a partial payment.
If you filed as Married and your income was under $150,000, you will receive the full $2400.
If you filed as Married and your income was above $198,000 you will not receive a stimulus payment.
If you filed as Married and your income was between $150,000 and $198,000 you will get a partial payment.
If you filed as Head of Household and your income was under $112,500, you will receive the full $1200.
If you filed Head of Household and your income was above $136,500 you will not receive a stimulus payment.
If you filed as Head of Household and your income was between $112,500 and $136,500 you will get a partial payment.
By “children” we mean your children under 17 who are eligible for the child tax credit. So your adult child who filed her own return will get her own stimulus payment based on her income. This is different from what we understood originally. This means your child who is 17 or older but still your dependent (generally a college student) will NOT be eligible for the $500 stimulus payment. The same would be true for any “other dependents”, like parents.
“Income” means your Adjusted Gross Income, a specific line item on your tax return. Also, please note that the stimulus payment is actually going to be calculated based on your 2020 AGI. Since we don’t know what that is yet, they are starting with your 2019 income and filing status, and if that isn’t available yet they are using your 2018 information (that’s what it will be for my family).
There will be an adjustment on the 2020 tax return to account for all of this, but it will not be taxable unless you make significantly more money in 2020 than you did in the year your payment was based upon. Which is very unlikely, because that is the whole point of all of this.
The Washington Post has a very good article on this, which includes a calculator to help estimate your payment. Here it is.
There are of course 100 different permutations of this and even more questions (“But what if I only receive Social Security and non-taxable municipal bond interest and haven’t filed a return since 2004?”). If you want to email me those questions I will do my best to help you out. But bear in mind that it is what it is… in virtually all circumstances there is nothing we can do to increase or otherwise change your potential stimulus payment.