Waiting for Round Two

Also see: Trump goes golfing as stimulus, defense spending bills left in the lurch

Dear Waiting,

Don’t you mean round three and four? That would be what you would receive if you were to receive two $ 600 checks in a second round of stimulus payments. However, I wouldn’t spend that second check quite yet. Firstly, the rollout of the second stimulus program is in limbo as President Trump has threatened not to sign the bill, despite lawmakers agreeing to move ahead with payments.

The Internal Revenue Service, after a year of employees working overtime and working tirelessly to get economic impact payments delivered to millions of Americans, will likely discover their mistake and adjust the payment in your 2020 tax return. Rarely do such windfalls come without a price. Such mistakes are usually rectified manually or by computer. You have been warned.

Some people are upset that they didn’t receive a large enough check or no economic impact payment at all, other taxpayers say they’ve received stimulus checks for dead relatives. This past year has not unfolded in a straight line. One man told me he was “punished” by the government for being responsible because he filed his 2019 taxes early — and received $ 200.

The Moneyist:My boyfriend’s ex-wife claimed her 2 sons as dependents on her taxes, and received their stimulus checks, but they live with us

You can return the money via check or money order with the notation “2020EIP,” plus the Social Security number or taxpayer I.D. of the check recipient. Those people who received a paper check and did not cash it can write “void” on the back of the check’s endorsement section and mail it back to the IRS, according the IRS directions (see Q41), with an explanation.

People who did not receive a check this year or only a small amount and believe their income will fall below the required threshold for checks next year could still receive a stimulus payment next year. The EIP is technically an advance payment of a tax credit on your 2020 return. The IRS is using 2019 tax returns to gauge people’s incomes; 2018 tax returns are used as a Plan B.

The IRS has sent out 150 million stimulus checks, totalling approximately $ 290 billion in checks. The second round of stimulus payments is currently up in the air, as President Trump surprised lawmakers by refusing to sign the new coronavirus relief bill, arguing that the $ 600 per person stimulus payments for those earning $ 75,000 a year or less are not generous enough.

Millions of people are desperate for at least one check. Searches for “stimulus check” made the top 10 news topics on Google GOOGL, +0.34%   GOOG, +0.37%  as millions of Americans have lost their jobs. A second round of financial-aid checks for taxpayers was one of the few things Republican and Democratic lawmakers agreed upon. The amount has been a subject of contention.

The Moneyist: I earned $ 100,000 in 2019, but far less in 2020. Why did I not get a stimulus check? How is that fair?

Ahead of November’s presidential election, House Democrats had pared back their version of the new stimulus bill from $ 3.4 trillion to $ 2.2 trillion, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared receptive to a total stimulus package of $ 1.8 trillion. With the U.S. hitting record daily COVID-19 case counts, more public-health steps like shutdowns may be necessary,

News of a new stimulus could not have come a moment too soon. As a result of the enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, which were both key parts of the CARES Act in March, Americans’ median checking-account balances increased by 65% on the year in April, according to a JPMorgan Chase Institute JPM, -0.44% report published last week.

Nearly one-third of people who received a stimulus check last summer used it to pay bills and, in a Twitter poll TWTR, -0.61%  of 889,000 people, over 60% said a $ 600 payment would not be enough. Return the second check, especially if you can afford it. You have been given another opportunity to pull together during the pandemic other than socially distancing and wearing masks.

You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at qfottrell@marketwatch.com

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