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Your Third Stimulus Payment Cant Be Seized To Pay Child Support

Stimulus auto-payment for Social Security recipients

Under the CARES Act from March 2020, your first stimulus check could be seized by state and federal agencies to cover past-due child support. That rule changed for the second stimulus check, which couldnât be taken if you owe money for child support. And like the second check, your third check cannot be taken to pay overdue child support.

According to the text of the bill, payments will not be subject to reduction or offset for past-due federal or state debts, or by other assessed federal taxes that would otherwise be subject to collection. However, if you end up having any money missing from your third check and have to claim it on your tax return next year, that money could be subject to garnishment . The best thing to do is to file your 2020 tax return as soon as possible, so the IRS has your most recent information on file.

People with children will benefit from other aspects of the bill outside of the third stimulus check. For example, updates to the Child Tax Credit increase the existing amount to as much as $3,600 per child. There are also some other tax breaks to take advantage of, including for child care.

Team Biden Is Using The Irs To Attack The Gig Economy

The feds have created a way to see when your third coronavirus stimulus check will arrive but its far from foolproof.

The Internal Revenue Service reopened its Get My Payment tool so taxpayers can track the status of the $1,400 payments that started hitting bank accounts over the weekend.

The tool should be familiar to anyone who received either of the first two economic impact payments Congress authorized last year. Its a simple online form that should tell you whether your payment has been processed and when to expect it after you enter your Social Security number, birth date, street address and ZIP code.

But the tools latest iteration faced complaints from people who didnt see details about when the much-needed money would arrive.

Get My Payment became a trending topic on Twitter Monday morning as taxpayers griped about the tool spitting out four dreaded words: Payment Status Not Available.

The IRS says there are three reasons you might see that vague message. Its possible that your payment just hasnt been processed yet, or the IRS doesnt have enough information to send it to you.

It may also mean that youre not eligible for the check. Congress tightened the eligibility rules so that anyone making more than $80,000 a year wont receive any money. Full payments are still available to individuals who had an income of up to $75,000 on their 2019 or 2020 tax return.

Payment Status Not Available: What Should You Do

The IRS Get My Payment tool will only let you input new direct deposit or bank account information if youre seeing a Need More Information status, breaking with tradition from previous stimulus check rounds. That works either by submitting a financial product that includes a routing and account number with it, whether it be a bank account or prepaid debit card.

The easiest way to make sure that the IRS has the most accurate picture of your financial situation and personal whereabouts is by submitting your 2020 tax return. You now have until May 17 to submit your 2020 tax return, after the IRS on March 17 announced it was delaying the deadline by a month.

However, given the unprecedented and unconventional nature of the current tax season, the Treasury Department and IRS may have already attempted to send out your payment before your tax information was processed.

You could also update your mailing address by submitting a Form 8822, Change of Address, or notifying the IRS orally of your move. But be prepared: You might experience delays waiting for confirmation, given that the IRS has already begun distributing these stimulus checks. As always, a direct deposit is the fastest way to guarantee you receive a payment.

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Other Payments You Can Claim Using The Tool

Additionally, by visiting GetCTC.org, you can claim the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit along with the third stimulus check.

To file for Child Tax Credit, you may e-file online.

To receive your payment, users must answer the questions provided truthfully and accurately.

Filling out the form only takes 15 minutes to complete.

If you would like to claim additional money with EITC, you may contact your employer for your W-2.

You Are Locked Out Of Using Get My Payment

Stimulus Check Status

The IRS says that data in Get My Payment is updated only once per day. If you’ve already checked with the app and received a “Payment Status Not Available” message, there is no need to try to use it again on the same day. If you do, you may see a message saying “Please Try Again Later,” and be locked out of using the site for 24 hours.

Recommended Reading: When Was The Third Stimulus Check Sent Out In 2021

How To Claim Your Missing Third Stimulus Payment On Your 2021 Tax Return

After Dec. 31, you will need to request any missing third stimulus payments on your 2021 tax return by claiming the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit. This is the case if you received a partial amount or didnt previously qualify for the third stimulus payment.

Lets say you are single and your income for the 2020 and 2019 tax years exceeds the threshold . However, you lost your job in 2021, so your income drastically decreased. You can now claim the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit since your earnings have fallen below the threshold.

You need to complete the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit worksheet and submit it along with your 2021 tax return. If youre using a tax software program, it should guide you through the process.

Before completing the worksheet, you must know the amount of any third stimulus payments received for you, your spouse, and any dependents. The worksheet will also request your adjusted gross income for the year to determine your eligibility.

If youre unsure of the amount of your third stimulus payment, you should review your IRS online account or use the Get My Payment app. You can also refer to your Notice 1444-C, a letter sent by the IRS to recipients, which shows the third stimulus payment amount for 2021.

In Jan. 2022, the IRS will mail Letter 6475 confirming the total amount of the third stimulus payments received for the 2021 tax year.

After you determine your correct recovery rebate credit amount, you will need to report it on line 30 of your 2021 tax return.

How Can I Get My Money Faster

The IRS is first sending money to those for whom it has bank account information on file. That might not be you if you havent received a tax refund over the past two years or if you received a refund by a check in the mail, rather than by a direct deposit.

But the Get My Payment tool, which launched Wednesday, will also allow taxpayers to input their bank account information so that they can receive the money electronically rather than by a paper check which could take weeks, or even months.

To do so, a taxpayer will need to submit their adjusted gross income from their most recent tax return, the refund or amount owed that year, as well as the account and routing numbers for their bank account.

However, taxpayers wont be able to update their bank information once the payment is already scheduled for delivery, and it wont allow you to update bank information already on file, the Treasury Department said.

Also Check: New Jersey Stimulus Check 2022

What To Do About Payment Scams

Though it’s uncommon, you may believe you’ve been scammed out of your payment or had it stolen. The Federal Trade Commission has a website where you can report a stolen stimulus check. If you’re worried about theft, you can sign up for a free USPS service that will send you a picture of every piece of mail coming your way — including your stimulus payment.

How Do I Check The Status Of My Stimulus Payment

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But waiting on your stimulus check can be an anxiety-ridden process, especially at a time when nearly 10 million Americans are out of work. Use the Treasury Departments tracker:

  • Visit the Get My Payment page that the IRS has set up on its website.
  • To monitor the status of your payment and track it, click on the blue Get My Payment button.
  • Youll be taken to a page about authorized use go ahead and click OK.
  • On the Get My Payment page, enter your Social Security number , your date of birth, your address and zip code. When finished, click the continue button.
  • This leads to a payment status page, which informs you of the status of your payment and when it can be expected.
  • If youre seeing a payment status not available error message on the platform, the IRS says one of the following issues might be occurring:

  • The agency hasnt yet processed your Economic Impact Payment
  • It doesnt have enough information on file to issue you a payment or
  • You arent eligible for a payment.
  • The platform is typically updated overnight, meaning you wont see a new message if youre checking for updates more regularly than once a day.

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    What If Your Bank Account Is Negative For Stimulus Check

    If your bank account is negative when the stimulus check is deposited, the funds from the check will be put towards your outstanding balance to bring your account back to a positive balance. Depending on your bank, they may hold the funds in your account and charge an overdraft fee, reject the deposit, or automatically transfer the funds to another linked account such as a savings account to pay off the negative balance.

    It is important to contact your bank to understand their policy on negative bank balances and stimulus check deposits, and to make sure necessary funds are being transferred or held if needed.

    Can Debt Collectors Take Your Coronavirus Stimulus Payment

    With 20.5 million Americans out of work due to coronavirus shutdowns, Congress passed the CARES Act, which gave many people a $1,200 stimulus to help them get by during tough times. As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, many people are still struggling to pay regular bills those that are deeply in debt are in even worse shape. If this describes your situation, you may wonder if your creditors may swipe that stimulus check out from under you. Are debt collectors authorized to take your coronavirus stimulus payment to pay outstanding debts?

    The short answer is maybe.

    In this article, well explore situations where that may or may not be the case.

    Read Also: How Much In Total Were The Stimulus Checks

    What If You Have Trouble With The Tool

    To use the Get My Payment tool, you must first verify your identity by answering security questions. If the information you enter does not match IRS records, you will receive an error message. To avoid this:

    • Double-check the information requested
    • Make sure what you enter is accurate
    • Try entering your street address in a different way and
    • Use the US Postal Services ZIP Lookup tool to look up the standard version of your address, and enter it into exactly as it appears on file with the Postal Service.

    If your answers do not match the IRS records three times, youll be locked out of Get My Payment for security reasons. If that happens, you must wait 24 hours and try again. If you cant verify your identity, you wont be able to use Get My Payment. Unfortunately, theres no fix for that: the IRS says not to not contact them.

    However, if you verified your identity and received Payment Status Not Available, this means that the IRS cannot determine your eligibility for a payment right now. There are several reasons this could happen, including:

    • You didnt file either a 2018 or 2019 tax return or
    • Your recently filed return has not been fully processed.

    Again, the IRS says theres no fix for that and you should not contact them.

    How The Treasury Offset Program Works

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    Here’s how the Treasury Offset Program works:

  • The TOP will check if your name and taxpayer information are in its delinquent debtor database.
  • If there is a match, TOP will notify you that it is deducting the amount you owe from your tax refund.
  • TOP will send the outstanding amount to the government agency to which you owed the money.
  • If you owe more money than the payment you were going to receive, then TOP will send the entire amount to the other government agency. If you owe less, TOP will send the agency the amount you owed, and then send you the remaining balance.

    Here’s an example: you were going to receive a $1,500 federal tax refund. But you are delinquent on a student loan and have $1,000 outstanding. TOP will deduct $1,000 from your tax refund and send it to the correct government agency. It will also send you a notice of its action, along with the remaining $500 that was due to you as a tax refund.

    The Internal Revenue Service can help you understand more about tax refund offsets.

    Recommended Reading: Third Stimulus Check Income Limits

    What Happens If You Dont Receive Your Payment Or Only Receive A Partial Amount

    If you havent received your payment yet, dont panic, although its easier said than done. Compared with the first round of stimulus checks, the IRS and Treasury Department have significantly shrunk the delivery timeline by weeks, if not months. However, the text of the American Relief Plan still gives both agencies until Dec. 31, 2021, to distribute all funds, meaning the last round of checks might not hit consumers mailboxes until January 2022.

    Consider signing up for the U.S. Postal Services informed delivery service, so you know in advance of any mail youll be receiving on a given day. If the IRS says it already mailed your check but you didnt receive one, down the road you might also decide to order a stimulus check payment trace. You can arrange one by calling a hotline at the IRS or submitting a completed Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund by mail or fax. But be prepared: This process can take weeks. The IRS may also ask that you sit tight for the time being in some cases, for a period as long as nine weeks.

    Nonfilers Are Likely Eligible To Get Both Of The 2020 Stimulus Checks

    Most nonfilers fall below the income limits stipulated by each stimulus package and would be eligible for the full amount in each round $1,200 per person under the 2020 CARES Act passed in March 2020, and $600 per person under the December 2020 stimulus bill. Find the full eligibility rules for each stimulus check here.

    If you receive SSI or SSDI, you should have received at least a portion of both of those stimulus checks automatically the IRS obtained the names of Social Security recipients and SSI beneficiaries from the Social Security Administration in the spring and made the payments to them automatically, according to Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

    If either of your checks are missing, however, youll have to take the extra steps below.

    The IRS started processing tax returns on Feb. 12. The federal tax return deadline was extended to May 17.

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    Which Tax Return Is Used For My Third Stimulus Check

    The IRS uses 2019 or 2020 tax returns to determine eligibility for your third stimulus check. You should note that if your income fell in the 2020 tax year, filing your tax return earlier could help you qualify for a bigger third stimulus check. The new stimulus plan targets lower income ranges to exclude higher-earning taxpayers from getting a payment.

    As we pointed out before, individuals making under $75,000 get the maximum stimulus payment of $1,400 . But payments are capped at $80,000 for single filers and $160,000 for couples. So filing at the beginning of the tax season with a lower income may help you qualify for a bigger check. But, if your income went up in tax year 2020, then you may want to delay filing so that eligibility is determined by your lower 2019 income.

    You might also want to file early if the size of your family increased in 2020. The new stimulus plan includes a child tax credit that pays up to $3,600 for each qualifying child under 6 years old, and $3,000 for every child between ages 6 and 17. This means that if you became a parent during the tax year, you could get an additional payment by claiming your child as a dependent earlier.

    SmartAssets child tax credit calculator will help you figure out how much you could get for each child.

    You can use SmartAssets tax return calculator to figure out your 2021 tax refund or tax bill.

    Applications For Economic Relief Payments For Non

    What to Know: Californians Soon to Begin Receiving Middle Class Tax Refunds

    Applications for economic relief payments for non-filers extended until June 10

    State to deliver millions in rebates, economic aid this summer

    SANTA FE The New Mexico Taxation & Revenue Department and Human Services Department are partnering to deliver income tax rebates and economic relief payments signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham earlier this spring. Applications for non-filers to receive the relief payment are extended until 5 p.m. on June 10, 2022.

    Approximately 33,544 applicants are currently eligible for a relief payment and about $18.1 million in relief payments are expected to be issued this July based on the applications approved so far.

    In addition to the millions of dollars in automatic rebates allocated to taxpayers, $20 million was appropriated during the 2022 Special Legislative Session for financial relief for New Mexicans who do not file taxes, such as low-income seniors and some individuals with disabilities. New Mexicans who do not file income tax returns are eligible to apply for the economic relief payment.

    The deadline to apply for a relief payment was extended to June 10, because there is still approximately $1.9 million in available funding through the program. The original deadline to apply was May 31.

    If non-filer funding does run out, a non-filer will still have the option of filing a New Mexico Personal Income Tax return to obtain a rebate as late as May 31, 2023.

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