Economic impact payments from the Federal Government are arriving in bank accounts this week for some taxpayers who e-filed early and opted for direct deposit. These “stimulus checks” are separate from your regular tax refund, and are being handled entirely by IRS, so we do not have any information on individual payments for our clients.
While the $1200 per citizen and $500 per child amounts are what people have heard and are expecting, IRS has a formula for determining who gets how much. We can tell you, however, that it is our understanding the $500 per child payments only apply if the child is under 17 years of age.
Luckily, the IRS has set up online tools to check the status of your payment, and to determine if “non-filers” qualify for payment and/or need to submit an application. At the time we are sending this newsletter there is a placeholder for the “Where’s My Payment” tool on the irs.gov website, with a note indicating that it is scheduled to be available in “mid-April.” The non-filer application tool is currently active, though, and the home page includes a brief and helpful description of qualifications to see if you should submit an application. You can access both on the IRS.gov website through this link.
