Johnny Isakson, United States Senator

Economic Stimulus Payments

On February 13, 2008, President Bush signed an economic stimulus bill that is designed to boost the nation’s economy by issuing rebate checks to taxpayers and by providing employers greater incentives to invest and create jobs.

Specifically, rebate checks would start at $300 for people who had an earned income of at least $3,000 during 2007. Depending on their incomes, single taxpayers could receive a maximum of $600 while married couples could receive a maximum of $1,200. The benefit would phase out for single people earning more than $75,000 a year and married couples earning more than $150,000.

The amount of the tax rebate would increased by $300 for each child under the age of 17, with no limit on the number of children. Illegal immigrants are not eligible for any assistance. Senior citizens, disabled veterans and widows of disabled veterans are eligible to receive rebate checks by counting Social Security benefits and VA disability payments towards the $3,000 earned income test.

The Department of Treasury will begin sending more than 130 million economic stimulus payments starting May 2. The initial round of weekly payments will be completed by early July.

Stimulus payments will be made by direct deposit to people who choose to receive their 2007 income tax refunds through direct deposit. All others will receive their economic stimulus payments in the form of a paper check.

This is the schedule if your tax return is received and processed by April 15:

Direct Deposit Payments
If the last two digits of your Social Security number are:
Your economic stimulus payment deposit should be sent to your bank account by:
00 – 20 May 2
21 – 75 May 9
76 – 99 May 16

Paper Check
If the last two digits of your Social Security number are:
Your check should be in the mail by:
00 – 09 May 16
10 – 18 May 23
19 – 25 May 30
26 – 38 June 6
39 – 51 June 13
52 – 63 June 20
64 – 75 June 27
76 – 87 July 4
88 – 99 July 11

A small percentage of tax returns will require additional time to process and to compute a stimulus payment amount. For these returns, stimulus payments may not be issued in accordance with the schedule above, even if the tax return was processed by April 15.

For recipients of Social Security and certain veterans’ benefits and low-income workers who don’t normally need to file, the IRS also released a special version of a Form 1040A that highlights the simple, specific sections of the return that can be filled out by people in these categories to qualify for a stimulus payment.

The IRS.gov Web site will be the best source of information for all stimulus questions. The Frequently Asked Questions section – accessible through the front page of IRS.gov -- includes an extensive set of information for all taxpayers with questions about the stimulus payments, commonly referred to as rebates. The questions and answers include important information for low-income workers and certain recipients of Social Security, Railroad Retirement benefits and veterans’ benefits.

The special IRS.gov section also features extensive examples of how much taxpayers can expect to receive in stimulus payments. The page includes more than two-dozen payment scenarios affecting different types of taxpayers.

The only way to receive a stimulus payment in 2008 is to file a 2007 tax return. The vast majority of taxpayers must take no extra steps to receive their stimulus payment beyond the routine filing of their tax return. IRS.gov will be updated frequently to provide taxpayers with all they need to understand the stimulus payments.