I think I got the wrong amount with the Stimulus package?

Question

I am married with 4 kids, but I did not work. My husband worked, however we filed married filing jointly. How much should I have recieved, I believe we were shorted 600 dollars

Answer 1

If you thought you were getting $1200 for the two of you plus $300 for each dependent child, but only got $600 total for the two of you, it's most likely right.  The amount is UP TO $1200, not $1200 for every couple.

Your stimulus payment is based on your net federal income tax for 2007. If your tax was between $600 and $1200 on your joint return, you get back everything you paid. If your tax was less than $600, you get an even better deal, and get $600, even MORE than you paid in. If you paid over $1200 though, your rebate is limited to $1200.

Answer 2

Take your 2007 tax return and go to the rebate calculator at www.irs.gov.  That will tell you.

Answer 3

Here's the IRS calculator http://www.irs.gov/app/espc/

Q. I received my stimulus payment and it didn’t include money for my kids. Does the IRS plan to send me an additional check?

A: Yes. The Internal Revenue Service will mail out approximately 350,000 additional economic stimulus payments starting in early July after discovering that some tax returns were improperly filed and did not capture the information needed to generate the $300 in qualifying child payments.

In some instances, taxpayers did not check the proper box to trigger the $300 child payment. In other instances, a few tax software products primarily used by tax professionals did not capture the proper information needed for issuing the child stimulus payment.

To fix the problem, the IRS is taking extra steps to identify the affected taxpayers and send them separate checks to cover their qualifying children. The IRS emphasized that the corrected checks will be mailed automatically, and taxpayers don’t need to call or take any additional steps.

The vast majority of tax returns with child payments were completed accurately by taxpayers, tax professionals and software providers. The IRS estimates that more than 99 percent of nearly 36 million returns eligible for child stimulus payments were filled out accurately by taxpayers, meaning that less than 1 percent will need the additional check mail-outs.

The additional payments involving qualifying children will be made starting in early July. These payments will be made by paper check, even if people received their regular tax refund or initial stimulus payment by direct deposit.

Taxpayers in this situation received — or will receive in the next few weeks — stimulus payments falling $300 short per eligible child.

The additional checks will be mailed as the regular weekly round of stimulus payments wrap up in early July. The regular stimulus payment timetable will not be affected by these additional checks.

The issue with the child payments involves the Child Tax Credit checkbox on line 6c, column (4) on Form 1040 and Form 1040A.

For the stimulus payments, IRS systems look for information in the checkbox area to generate the $300 qualifying child stimulus payment. In instances involving paper returns, taxpayers did not check this box when completing their return. In some instances, tax software may not have checked this box, meaning the $300 payment was not triggered.

The IRS has worked closely with the two affected software vendors on this. The IRS appreciates the willingness of these firms to help identify the problem. They have reported to the IRS that their software has been corrected.

The majority of the tax software issues involve commercial versions used by tax professionals and tax preparers. Included are Petz Enterprises’ professional and on-line software as well as ProSystems fx Tax software and on-line CompleteTax software from CCH.

Taxpayers with questions about whether they are affected can contact their tax preparer or software provider.

For taxpayers who haven’t filed a tax return yet, the IRS urges them to update their tax software before filing to ensure proper handling of their economic stimulus payment. Paper filers should make sure to review the eligibility requirements for qualifying children and check the box on line 6c, column (4) if appropriate.

Answer 4

I could be wrong here, but it seems like I remember reading that there may be a second check coming.  Go to the IRS website and read the frequently asked questions.  Like I said, I could have been dreaming, but it sure does seem like I read something like that.

I found an article....not on the IRS website, but this should be quite helpful........http://justshootmenow.wordpress.com/2008...

WHAT'S WITH THE THUMBS DOWN GUYS????

CLICK ON THE LINK.

Here it is on the IRS Website..........Scroll Down to the very last question......

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,i...

Answer 5

It was UP TO $1200 per married couple, not a guaranteed $1200 per couple.

I imagine that your family income was far less than $150K and I suspect that you paid less than $600 in income tax.  

You only got more than $600 if you actually PAID more than that in income tax.

It truly seems like half of America's taxpayers need to take a remedial reading course.

Answer 6

You should receive a letter stating why you got the amount you did.  I believed we were shorted as well, but apparently to get the full amount you have to make more than we did. We only got 600 for ourselves and then an additional 600 for our 2 children.  I thought we should have gotten 600 more, but I was wrong.