Tax news and guidance for individual taxpayers — filing tips, deductions, refunds, and everything else that hits your personal return.
There’s a recurring theme in the thousands of emails I’ve received from readers about stimulus checks over the past few weeks, and it goes something like this: How do I keep my stimulus check from being taken? The details may change from one taxpayer to the next, but it’s clear many taxpayers worry about their checks…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury have announced that they have delivered nearly 130 million Economic Impact Payments (EIPs, or stimulus checks) to Americans. More are on the way. I know – and you know – that some Americans may have received a payment amount different than what they expected. The IRS has some explanations for…
For weeks, I’ve been fielding questions from taxpayers who were hoping to have their stimulus checks applied to pre-paid debit or benefits cards. That is the case for some taxpayers, but most taxpayers have only two options: direct deposit or paper check. Both of them require access to a bank account or a check-cashing service. There’s…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued some guidance about how to return an Economic Impact Payment (EIP) or stimulus check. That is, assuming that you want to. To be clear, the payment is NOT taxable. It will NOT negatively affect your 2020 tax return (it won’t decrease your refund or increase how much you…
Hear that? It’s the sounds of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) trying to retroactively impose rules on stimulus checks being paid out under the CARES Act. The latest target? Incarcerated persons. On May 6, 2020, the IRS posted the following FAQ on its website: Q12. Does someone who is incarcerated qualify for the Payment? (added…
(Updated May 21, 2020) Shortly after stimulus checks started going out, I began receiving inquiries from taxpayers who had received checks intended for deceased relatives. Some media outlets – and politicians – wanted to make a big deal out of this, suggesting that it was indicative of something wrong at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)….
Folks who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation and pension benefits are entitled to a stimulus check. If you receive SSI and VA benefits but do not file a tax return, you can get your $1,200 payment without taking an extra step. If, however, you receive SSI or VA benefits…
Over the past five weeks, 26.5 million Americans have filed initial claims for unemployment, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s in addition to the 7.1 million unemployed Americans reported before most of the country shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 27, 2020, the President signed the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and…
Over a month ago, I wrote an article about the home office deduction that attracted very little notice. I figured folks were either overwhelmed with COVID-19 coverage, or the article didn’t apply to them. More recently, I realized that I was wrong: taxpayers assumed the article didn’t apply to them. Since then, I’ve received tweets, comments, and emails from…
The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) has announced a new tool to assist taxpayers with claiming their Economic Impact Payment (EIP), sometimes referred to as a stimulus check. This new tool is for people who know they qualify and want to know what steps, if any, need to be taken to receive the payment. You can try out the…