I don't want the friggin' rebate.

I'd like the rebate to go to my back taxes. That's too much to ask, isn't it?

Actually, Christopher, I think Uncle Sam is going to take care of that for you! If you owe back taxes, no stimulus check for you.....

Mine was in my account on Saturday.

Kevin, what is the actual answer to Christopher's question?

Does he get any back taxes credited, or is he just out on the street with regard to this "stimulus."

Seems back taxes would be one of the things that people might pay off first, and also something that Uncle Sam would want paid off first.

Which, given this administration and this stupid stimulus, leads me to think that Christopher, but not having enough money to pay his taxes in the past, gets hosed again.

What a great plan.

What a good time for a Washington Monthly fundraiser!

Um, no linky for "here's the schedule"?

"If you owe back taxes, you're screwed."

Or, to put it differently, if you owe back taxes, lucky you.
I don't want to be part of this stupid scheme, especially since it only means that come tax time next year, there's going to be yet another complication in filling in the damn form.

I've seen crazy gimmicks out there to get people to spend it. At the supermarket today- get a 10% bonus if you buy large gift cards! ($30 extra if you buy $300, up to $120 extra if you buy $1200.)

Hey how come you all get to have money back from the government? That is elitist.

Wow everyone. I'm glad you've all taken an interest in me vs. Uncle Sam. But @abjetct funk I fear that that's what Kevin was trying to suggest. I get nothing. No credit. No rebate. Just my regular back tax payment. (To be honest, the IRS has been really nice to me about this, but the IRS are just cogs in this machine. I'm sure they hate this "stimulus" "plan" as much as we do.)

I'm with Fettsackinhell.

There won't be any samurai showdowns over this for me, unfortunately. I've got no elitism-fighting juice left!

Kevin,
You big dummy. My SSN ends in 72 and I'll be getting my check next week due to direct deposit. Time to get with the program Kevin.

Christopher, so long as you file, the IRS is pretty darn reasonable (and the penalties are too, a small interest fee in most cases for individuals, and by small, I mean less than 2% on the amount you owe annually). If you don't file, they can get mean, and they tend to go after small wage earners as opposed to giant corps (gee, wonder why that is).

Anyway, here's hoping you can somehow share in this stimulus, but it doesn't look good.

Maynard, it is my understanding that this is "an advance on future taxes" that will not be repaid, and as a result, the headache should be minimal to non-existent. The payment from the IRS is not taxable, and is basically a one-time publicity stunt for the White House/Congress with no future consequences.

And I mean consequences in both negative and positive terms. Our kids and grandkids just paid $162 billlion, plus interest for....nothing. So it goes. Looking forward to my gas tax holiday!!! Since I take the bus, the crumbling infrastructure due to no tax revenue just makes me feel rich and safe, what with the awesome condition of our bridges, roads, and other projects that the tax pays for.

Only in 21st Century Neocon America would the government borrow money to send checks out to people to try to fix a problem primarily caused by the government borrowing too much money.

Can we have some fucking sensible people in government for a change? Please?!?

No rebate check here, guess I'm too friggin' wealthy for a rebate check, too poor to vote Republican, too smart to vote for Clinton and too stupid to move to Europe.

Guess I'm screwed.

Paul, so far as I know (I could be wrong), only those receiving tax refunds have the option of setting up direct deposit. That is, those receiving their stimulus payments first have already received a refund.

I am usually within a few hundred dollars of my tax burden at the end of the year, I either owe a bit or get a bit back. I prefer to get my max paycheck possible without any tax day surprises (the amount of my bonus at the end of the year usually dictates whether I get money back or owe a bit). For folks who purposely claim as many exemptions as possible, they often owe a lot of money at the end of the year, especially if they made more than they thought. So, by trying to maximize their income flow over the year, this stimulus package means that not only did they owe taxes (ouch), but get to wait longer for their stimulus check, as they didn't have the chance to sign up for direct deposit (that is, they sent a check instead of telling Uncle Sam how to get their refund to them sooner via direct deposit).

Again, I might be wrong, but it appears that those who received refunds are first in line to receive the stimulus money, while those of us who owed money get to wait a bit longer for the old-fashioned paper check. I do not recall the ability to pay the IRS directly through an electronic transfer, but then again, I didn't really look for the opportunity to send in my money as quickly as possible.

It would be a help to one part of my investment strategy if I could get my rebate in yuan. This would also be appropriate considering where we are getting the money for this stimulus from.

Reliable authority, however, informs me that this cannot be done. Perhaps in the next stimulus package later this year, when a new bipartisan consensus forms around the idea that we are all hurting and need help and nurturing and more debt. I'd be remiss if I didn't add a statement of my admiration for President Bush and the Congressional leadership, putting their differences aside to make this bold statement of their concern and caring and compassion. Yes, I am plagiarizing one of Speaker Pelosi's speeches.

Same as usual-owed money this year-too funny it's because I earn so little that my boss can't fix my withholding! (This is with my husband's and my pay)

If I'd have gotten this rebate check in 2000 it would have been worth 40% more. So in effect a 600 dollar check is only worth, about what, 350 bucks?

It is a great program in that it is completely unfunded, decreases the value of the dollar further, and will be paid by our great grandchildren who survive the great hungry times ahead.

If you have to wait for the check, inflation will rob you of a third of its value. This is what bugs me about Hillary and McCain and their phantom gas tax holiday; the stupid pandering has really hurt our economy. A real stimulus package would have attacked the root cause of oil inflation--the weakened dollar, rampaging big oil companies, commodities speculators. I am tired of the smoke and mirrors. We need a real leader--maybe someone who would tax the HELL out of oil profits and bring back manufacturing to the U.S. The cost of global transportation has made it unaffordable to import so much from so far. The global economy has reached entropy. We must relocalize. And vote Democrat.

I know someone that got laid off last year and she tapped her retirement big time (about a 1/3 of it) to pay off all credit cards, a 2nd mortgage, HELOC etc., and now she is going to get a reduced check because her AGI was over the limit. Couldashouldawoulda

Gubmint inefficiency. We wouldn't have this problem if this was taken care of by the private sector. It's not too late to write in Ron Paul come November.

Sweet! I get mine on May 2!!!

I'm going to use my check to move out of the country. No, really; I'm moving to Germany. I'll use my check to buy some euros. $600 should get me enough to buy a meal or two when I get there. AWESOME!

Waaaay doggies. I think I'll buy me a house and a new car, pay all my bills and invest a little. The rest I'll just spend foolishly.

I don't get stimulated ... bread winner makes too much ...:-(

Maynard,

So maybe you have to fill out one last form next year. What you are overlooking is the fact that you are paying everyone else's rebate.

I am so cornholed. You figured out estimated taxes wrong. No check for you.

Don't forget, Kevin: non-married, non-heterosexual couples don't get any.

(As well as paying more taxes. We paid $5K more than a federally-recognized married couple.)

I wrote a note in the family Bible and made a YouTube video thanking my wonderful great-grandchildren for their generosity and expressing my sorrow that, though they will still be paying off our debts, I will be long dead and unable to thank them in person.

Rebate checks - what crap. This is completely insane. Who thinks this will do anything?

Add to the national debt. Fill the coffers of the oil companies. Bribe the 28% to stay loyal to the Republican fascists.

What crap.

Memo to Bush and friends. F U!!!!

Virtually everyone I have spoken to is simply paying off their end-of-heating-season balance at the oil dealer. I am paying for a month's oil what I paid for a whole heating season twenty years ago.

Paul, so far as I know (I could be wrong), only those receiving tax refunds have the option of setting up direct deposit. That is, those receiving their stimulus payments first have already received a refund.

Not so, all you had to do was fill in the direct deposit information at the end of the 1040, even if you owed tax and were paying by check. I found this info somewhere on the irs.gov, although it was not well advertised.

Couldn't they factor in local cost of living, as they do with salaries for federal employees?

I'm decidedly middle-middle class in DC, but no refund for me...

I believe the stimulus check is zero if you're a single filer with adjusted gross income of $87,000 or more. Is that "quite a lot of money"? It's not bad -- you shouldn't starve, and you're doing better than most -- but how good depends on where you live.

I suppose there's one tiny good thing about this stimulus check gimmick: for a brief moment in time it makes the tax code slightly more progressive.

The jokes almost write themselves, but I've actually been thinking about the best use for this rebate.

Like most people I could spend every penny on bills but I'd like to take a little bit to actually help our country.

I'm hoping to take $100 or so and indulge myself with some hand-made marbles. I like the marbles, and I like that they are made by artists in the US of A. I figure artists need the extra help now.

Yeah, label me "liberal" supporting the arts but a dollar spent to a local artist will bang around the US economy at least a couple times before flowing out to a sovereign wealth fund or the China Defense Fund.

Seems like there's an awful lot of you who don't like the idea.

Great!

Send it to Obama. Have Bush pay for his election...

I just found out that the law is so poorly written that the IRS doesn't know how to handle some returns.

I filed a 1040 without claiming exemptions for two of my kids because I thought my ex-wife was going to claim them.

I have filed a 1040-X correcting the mistake. However the IRS just told me that the rebate is going out based on the original return.

That makes sense to me since they want to get the money out quickly so I can deposit into my money market fund to stimulate the economy.

However, the IRS told me that I MAY be able to get credit on my 2008 tax return.

I asked what MAY meant and, after a little discussion, found out that 'may' means that the IRS doesn't know the answer because the law was not clear on how to handle things like this.

I wonder how the IRS would have treated things if the error were in the opposite direction where both parents claimed the kid and then one of them filed a 1040-X when they realized the mistake.

I wonder if the IRS would not be sure in that situation.

If I still indulged in such things, I'd be spending some of it on herbal medication. That's what happened to my Gerald Ford tax rebate. ;)

But Tripp's got the right idea. If you're not absolutely strapped, try and make sure at least some of the money stays with local artisans.

thersites,

Local plumbers or electricians are a worthwhile cause too. I do most of my own plumbing and electrical so I failed to mention them.

Speaking of your herbal medication - I actually have had glaucoma since age 21. I'm just saying. So far I've only tried the medical eyedrops, but who knows what the future might bring.

If you got money back and you did direct deposit, then the IRS will direct deposit your $600. If you owed money--no matter how you paid it--even via direct debit--you still have to wait for the dang paper check. *growls*

If you got money back and you did direct deposit, then the IRS will direct deposit your $600. If you owed money--no matter how you paid it--even via direct debit--you still have to wait for the dang paper check. *growls*

If you got money back and you did direct deposit, then the IRS will direct deposit your $600. If you owed money--no matter how you paid it--even via direct debit--you still have to wait for the dang paper check. *growls*

(sorry, I only meant to post that once . . . weird)

If you got money back and you did direct deposit, then the IRS will direct deposit your $600. If you owed money--no matter how you paid it--even via direct debit--you still have to wait for the dang paper check. *growls*

So not only are they sending back to me the same $600 I just sent them, but I have to wait for it even though they have my direct deposit information? FFS.

Since I owed exactly $613, I wanted to send them a check for $13 and tell them not to cut the bogus "stimulus" check, but I had a feeling that might not go over very well.

If your stimulation lasts longer then four hours, contact your physician.

it is may 2nd, and i don't show the stimulus check on my account, when is it suppose to exactly be there????????/