The Claim: A Fourth $2000 Stimulus Payment Is Being Sent Out
With tax season underway, some experts have warned that the 2022 season may see some of the issues of 2021, when several rounds of stimulus checks caused severe logjams in the IRS’ filing system.
While it’s been about a year since stimulus checks were last dispensed, an array of social media posts claim a fourth round of stimulus checks are on the way.
“SENDING OUT $2,000 CHECKS FOR EVERYONE! FOURTH STIMULUS CHECK,” says the title on a viewed more than 20,000 times.
videos with titles claiming the checks will be deposited Feb. 9 drew 40,000 more views.
But none of the videos followed through with any proof of an upcoming payment. Because there isn’t one.
No fourth stimulus check is imminent, the IRS confirms.
The poster couldnt be reached for comment.
When Will Social Security Recipients Ssi And Ssdi Receive Their Stimulus Check
Several Congressional leaders are alarmed at the lack of stimulus payments to nearly 30 million Social Security, SSI , Veterans Affairs and Railroad Retirement Board beneficiaries and no estimated timeline on when they will get payments.
We were alarmed to learn recently that most Social Security, SSI, RRB, and VA beneficiaries who are not required to file a tax return have not yet received their payments and that the IRS is unable to provide an expected timeline for these payments, said Reps. Richard Neal , John Larson , Bill Pascrell and Danny Davis in the letter sent earlier this week.
On Wednesday, the group sent a follow-up letter to Social Security Administration Commissioner Andrew Saul after learning the agency hasnt sent the necessary payment files to the IRS, delaying the payments of nearly 30 million people.
We are aware that the IRS asked SSA to start sending payment files two weeks before the American Rescue Plan became law on March 11, 2021, they wrote Wednesday. As of today, SSA still has not provided the IRS with the payment files that are needed to issue EIPs to these struggling Americans. We demand that you immediately provide the IRS this information by tomorrow, March 25, 2021.
You can check the status of your payment using the IRS Get My Payment Tool.
Will There Be A Fourth Stimulus Check
A non-partisan advocacy group called Senior Citizens League has been demanding that the government issue a one-time $1,400 stimulus check for Social Security beneficiaries.
“We have received hundreds of emails from people concerned about making ends meet,” Senior Citizens League’s Shannon Benton told The Sun.
“The high cost of living adjustment, for many, just exacerbated their financial woes by bumping their income above program limits to qualify for Medicare savings programs and extra help.”
After the original stimulus checks, some lawmakers did push for another stimulus check, but the social spending plan stalled in Congress in late 2021.
Congress has not been planning to provide beneficiaries with stimulus money. However, this could happen in the event that the US experience an even tougher financial crisis.
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Over 160 Million Stimulus Payments Have Been Sent Out So Far
As of mid-May, 164 million stimulus checks had been sent out to qualifying Americans. This totals a whopping $388 billion in direct stimulus payment money.
And, about 460,000 of those payments were sent out as plus-up payments — which is extra money that is being paid to people who received less stimulus money than they should have gotten prior to filing their taxes. These payments are being issued weekly as the IRS continues to process tax returns for 2020.
While a fourth stimulus check isn’t completely off the table at this point, chances are not looking great that Americans will see another direct payment hit their bank accounts if the pandemic recovery stays on its current trajectory. Some Americans may still have plus-up payments to look forward to, however, and monthly expanded Child Tax Credit payments will begin in July for eligible parents and caregivers.
What Should You Do With Your Third Stimulus Check
Lets be real: Three stimulus checks in a year or so is not normal. This third payment can go a long way to help you catch up on bills, pay off debt, or build up your savings. And for a lot of folks, those stimulus checks have kept food on the table. In our State of Personal Finance study, we found that 41% of people who got a stimulus check used it to pay for necessities like food and bills.
So, based on your situation, heres where you start:
If youre out of work or missing a paycheck, use this stimulus money to protect your Four Walls:
Focus on the necessities so you can have peace of mind as you keep looking for work or get your income back up. That means if youre working the Baby Steps and youre out of work, pause your plan for now. Pile up cash until you have a steady income again. Then you can attack your debt. Theres nothing like fighting through a financial crisis to light your fire to be debt-free as soon as possible!
On the other hand, if your job is safe and you feel like itll stay that way, use your stimulus money to build momentum on whatever Baby Step youre on. Put your debt snowball into overdrive. Knock out your fully funded emergency fund . Or talk to your investment professional about giving your retirement a big boost !
No matter your situation, dont forget to budgetits the best way to make your money go further. EveryDollar is our free and simple budgeting app that will help you see exactly where you need to cut back on your spending.
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Is A Fourth Stimulus Check On The Way Everything You Need To Know
PRESIDENT Joe Biden has yet to approve another round of stimulus cash – but there have been calls in hopes make it happen.
As of December 2021, the Internal Revenue Service had issued more than 175million stimulus checks worth $400billion under the third round package.
As inflation continues to cause havoc on Americans’ wallets, 64% now find themselves living paycheck-to-paycheck, a report from LendingClub shows.
Additionally, hourly pay isn’t keeping up with the latest reported 9.1% inflation rate.
Wages are up 5.1% over the past year, which is trailing the pace of inflation, Bankrate senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick said, according to CNBC.
Indeed, surging prices are stealing the show on the minds of consumers.
The Millions Of Unemployed Americans Could Use The Financial Boost
It may seem like the job market is getting on track — and overall, it is — but there are still millions of unemployed people who could really use the boost from another round of stimulus money.
According to the May 2021 jobless report issued by The Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 9.3 million are still unemployed. That number is down considerably from the pandemic unemployment highs, which occurred in April 2020, but it’s still significant. Only about 5.8 million were out of work as of February 2020, right before the pandemic struck.
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Rhode Island: $250 Rebate Per Child
Rhode Island is sending a one-time payment of $250 per child, thanks to a state budget surplus.
Households can receive a payment for up to three dependent children, for a maximum of $750. Those children must have been listed as your dependents on your 2021 federal and state income tax returns.
Taxpayers must earn $100,000 or less to be eligible for the payment.
Child Tax Rebate check distribution began in October. Taxpayers who filed their 2021 state tax returns on extension by October 2022 will receive their rebates starting in December. You can check your rebate status on Rhode Islands Division of Taxation website.
Direct Payments Reach People Who Need Immediate Aid
Direct payments, in particular, help those who do not qualify for unemployment insurance but have had their hours reduced or left their job to care for family members during the pandemic, economists have said.
Direct payments have helped alleviate poverty in the U.S., and a fourth stimulus check alone would lift 6.6 million people out poverty in 2021, according to a recent report from Elaine Maag and Kevin Werner at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
“Housing instability and food insecurity remain concerns for many, and an additional payment could help with both,” Maag writes to CNBC Make It in an email, noting that Black and Hispanic families with children feel the pain more acutely than other households. “Studies on how other economic impact payments were spent indicate people spent the money on necessities like food, housing and bills.”
That said, with the vaccine rollout chugging along and more states lifting coronavirus restrictions, it is not clear if the progressive lawmakers will be able to sell the idea to their more moderate or conservative colleagues.
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Fourth Stimulus Check: Are More Payments Coming
Here’s what we know about a possible fourth stimulus check
A fourth stimulus check from the government could take one of two forms: monthly checks in fairly small amounts, or one-time payments of up to $2,000.
Both options have been put forward by legislators in Congress as follow-ups to the third round of pandemic relief payments, which were made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act of March 2021.
The U.S. economy is still recovering, with slow but steady job growth even as unemployment numbers hold steady and the Delta variant of COVID-19 causes hospitalization rates to soar.
The federal moratorium on evictions ended Aug. 26 with a Supreme Court ruling , and millions now face losing their homes. Inflation , however, appears to be on the rise, contributing to fears among economists and lawmakers that further stimulus payments could only fuel more price hikes.
As a result, there’s no legislation in Congress that’s likely to pass that would create a fourth round of stimulus payments, even though some Democratic lawmakers have called on President Joe Biden to consider recurring payments.
The White House has passed back the buck, stating that the president would consider whatever Congress comes up with.
“We’ll see what members of Congress propose,” Psaki added, “but those are not free.”
Delaware: $300 Rebate Payments
Delaware sent relief rebate payments of $300 to taxpayers who filed their 2020 state tax returns. The one-time payment was possible due to a budget surplus. Couples filing jointly received $300 each.
Payments were distributed to most eligible Delaware residents in May 2022.
If youre eligible but didnt receive a rebate yet, you can apply online starting November 1. The application period will only last 30 days and will close on November 30, 2022.
Applicants must provide their Social Security number, active Delaware drivers license that was issued before December 31, 2021 and a valid Delaware residential mailing address. Payments will be sent out to qualifying applicants after the application period closes and all applications are reviewed.
Check your rebate status or get answers to frequently asked questions from the Delaware Department of Finance.
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Fourth Stimulus Check Update: Petition For Monthly $2k Grows Senior Citizen Group Demands $14k
A senior citizens advocacy group has launched a new petition calling on Congress to deliver a fourth stimulus check of $1,400 just for Social Security recipients. That new campaign comes as a petition for monthly stimulus checks of $2,000 for the wider U.S. population is nearing its goal of 3 million signatures while the Delta variant drives up COVID-19 deaths surge across the country.
The latest campaign spearheaded by the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League calls for lawmakers to pass a fourth round of “$1,400 emergency stimulus checks” to assist seniors in coping with the “unprecedented inflationary year.”
“Social security benefits are one of the few types of income in retirement adjusted for inflation,” the petition read. “But soaring inflation has taken a toll on household finances of retired and disabled Social Security recipients.”
Data suggests there could be a 6.2 percent increase to the Social Security cost-of-living in 2022, which far exceeds this year’s increase of 1.3 percent to benefits, according to the group.
Additionally, a separate online petition calling for recurring stimulus checks of $2,000 for U.S. adults and $1,000 for child dependents until the pandemic ends has gained about 116,000 new supporters in the past month.
Only four House DemocratsCori Bush of Missouri, Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania, Jamaal Bowman of New York, and Pramila Jayapal of Washingtonhave signed onto the legislation.
Biden Isn’t Opposed To The Idea But He Hasn’t Proposed A Fourth Round Of Checks
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki touched on the topic of a fourth round of stimulus checks during a press conference last week. Psaki made it clear that the president isn’t opposed to the idea of more stimulus checks, stating that the president is “open” to that, and other, potential ideas.
“The president is certainly open to a range of ideas,” Psaki said on June 3.
That said, Biden did not include a fourth round of direct payments in his recent $4 trillion spending proposals. Lawmakers are in the fourth week of talks over these proposals, and thus far, direct stimulus payments have taken a back seat to infrastructure, education, and childcare.
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What States Are Paying A Fourth Stimulus Check
There likely wont be another stimulus check from the federal government coming anytime soon. But a number of states have approved a fourth stimulus check for their residents welcome news amid rampant inflation. And more states could do the same in months to come. Lets break down which states are paying a fourth stimulus check and how much you could get.
For help with managing stimulus payments or with any other financial questions, consider working with a financial advisor.
Cons Of Taking The Monthly Child Tax Credit Payments
- Youll only get half of the money at tax time. If you take this advance payment of the Child Tax Credit now, just know that youll only see the other half after you file your taxes next yearand not the full amount. Remember, this is an up-front payment of the regular amount you get.
- You might have to pay some of it back. Now listen up: This is only if your income went up from 2020 to 2021. Lets say you lost your job like so many Americans did in 2020, but then you got a new job in 2021. The tax credit is taking the info it has from your 2020 taxes, so your new income might push you over the limits and start to phase out .
- Your payment will be sent to whoever claimed the kids on the 2020 tax returns. If youre divorced or separated, these advance Child Tax Credit payments will go to the parent who had the kids listed on their taxes that year.
- You might need that full amount of money at tax time. If youre self-employed, making quarterly payments, or usually owe money to the IRS, you might want to opt out of monthly payments here. Youll probably need that full amount to help bring down the amount youll pay at tax time.
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No Economic Recovery For Others
The pandemic has further highlighted the growing imbalance across the broader economy. While many households have financially flourished during COVID, many others have fallen behind where they were in early 2020. Much of the gap depends on whether wage earners could work remotely during the shutdown or had public-facing jobs that required them to be on-site.
Financial insecurity is still widespread, and the loss of a job and the loss of hours were some of the main reasons over the course of the pandemic. Nine percent of American adults reported a shortage of food in their household over the previous week, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of U.S. Census survey data from late September and early October. Approximately 16 percent of renters have fallen behind on their rent, including 23 percent of renters with children in their household. The federal eviction moratorium, which ended October 3, didn’t forgive rent that was owed, it pushed the debt into the future. And evictions continued in some parts of the country regardless. Meanwhile, only a fraction of the $46 billion Congress allocated for rental assistance has actually made it to tenants and landlords. As of late September, over a quarter of American adults reported some difficulty keeping up with expenses in the prior week.
Congress Could Extend Unemployment Insurance
Supplemental federal unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire in September. Currently, per the latest stimulus package, you can get $300 a week of supplemental federal unemployment insurance. Congress could extend this temporary benefit and help provide additional, direct stimulus to millions of unemployed Americans. If Congress extends supplemental unemployment insurance, this benefit would act as a recurring stimulus check for a targeted group of individuals.
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As Of Now A Fourth Stimulus Check Is Unlikely
Recently, calls have circulated online for a fourth stimulus check to be approved, with many saying that although the payments have stopped, the pandemic clearly hasnt.
Over three million people have signed a Change.org petition calling for recurring $2,000 payments for adults and $1,000 payments for children until the pandemic ends.
But no such payment has yet been approved, IRS spokesperson Eric Smith told USA TODAY.
This isnt the first time people have posted misinformation about fourth stimulus checks. Similar posts also circulated in May and of 2021.
Fact check:False claim that image shows salaries of government officials and service members
Analysts have their doubts about whether a fourth stimulus check is likely to be approved.
CBS News wrote on Jan. 31 that the Biden administrations focus on infrastructure to spur economic growth combined with criticisms that the previous stimulus contributed to ongoing inflation have lowered the odds of another cash infusion.
