The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has started notifying people that they could be receiving a payment in May from the economic stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress this year. “We are pleased to inform you that the United States Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, …” the letter the IRS sent to taxpayers said. “The IRS will begin sending the onetime payments starting in May.” The stimulus package was proposed and approved amid fears that the United States is sliding into a recession. The one-time payments are hoped to increase spending and stimulate the U.S. economy. Jean Carl, a media relations official with the IRS in Denver, said anyone with at least $3,000 in qualifying Income who is not phased out due to having a high income will receive a payment. Qualifying income includes earned income, Social Security benefits and qualifying veterans benefit payments. Montana’s Sen. Max Baucus spearheaded an effort in the U.S. Senate to include the Social Security and veteran’s benefit payments as qualifying income in an effort to ensure retired Americans and disabled veterans were included in the stimulus payments. The amount of the stimulus payment depends on income, tax liability and on the number of children younger than 17 living in a household. People must file a 2007 tax return in order to receive the payment, even if they normally do not have to file a return. People filing a single return who have at least $3,000 in qualifying income will receive $300 even if they owed nothing in federal taxes, or will receive the same as their amount of taxes owed up to $600. People filing a joint return will receive at least $600 if they owed nothing in taxes, or the amount of taxes owed up to $1,200. Taxpayers will also receive $300 for each qualifying child in the household who was younger than 17 on Jan. 1. One group which will not receive the stimulus payments is the top income earners in the country. The payments are phased out for people with high incomes, starting at more than $75,000 for individual taxpayers and at more than $150,000 for couples filing a joint return. The IRS has included additional information on its Web site, including an “Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator” in which people can enter information off of their tax forms to see if they will qualify for the payment and the expected amount of the payment. The payments will be sent automatically to all qualifying people who file their return, with the date of the payment disbursal depending on their Social Security number, when they file and how they elect to receive payments. For the people who have filed by the April 15 tax filing deadline and have requested using direct deposit for payments, the money will be disbursed starting on May 2, the date payment will start for people whose Social Security numbers end in the digits 00 through 20. For people whose Social Security numbers end in 21 through 75, payments will start on May 9, and for numbers ending in 76 through 99 payments will start on May 16. Disbursement for people requesting payment by check will start later. Checks will be mailed to people whose Social Security numbers end in 00 to 09 starting on May 16, for 10 through 18 starting May 23; for through 25 starting May 30; for 26 through 38 starting June 6; for 39 through 51 starting June 13; for 52 through 63 starting June 20; for 64 through 75 starting June 27; for 76 through 87 starting July 4, and for 88 through 99 starting July 11. On the Net: Internal Revenue Service: www.irs.gov.
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