Will You Get Your Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate Check?

Congress’ economic stimulus package bill has passed, meaning most American taxpayers will receive tax rebate checks ranging from between $300 and $1,200 per household, plus additional amounts for households with multiple children. Want to make sure you get yours?

You did file your taxes, last year, right?

To be eligible for W’s recession-busting rebate check, you must have filed a 2006 federal income tax return, if required, and be filing a 2007 return, regardless of whether you would ordinarily need to file. If for whatever reason you overslept by about 10 months and haven’t filed last year’s yet—you might consider it.

You may be entitled to receive a check even if you aren’t ordinarily obligated to file a return (for example you are on social security or disability), however, you will have to file this year to get this refund!

As far as I know, the only people ineligible for this refund are those that do not file any sort of tax return and those with extremely high incomes. (The refund amount will begin to be phased out for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes above $7,500.

Check Your Address

If you have provided the IRS with direct deposit bank account information to receive your regular tax refund, your economic stimulus rebate will come directly into your bank account. If not, the IRS needs to know where to find you. (If, for whatever reason, you don’t want them to find you, you’ll have to kiss this check goodbye).

The rebate checks will be mailed to the last known address the IRS has for you. So if, like me, you have moved about six times since last April, you might want to check in with Uncle Sam to see that he has your address.

Update

By now most taxpayers have received a letter further describing the stimulus rebate and their eligibility. The latest word is the rebate checks will start mailing in May. To be eligible, you will also need to have filed a 2007 tax return by the April 15th deadline. If you haven’t filed, be sure not to miss these important deductions, and you might also consider getting your receipts organized!

Ready to file your tax return? Do your taxes the smart way to file with TurboTax Federal Free Edition

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David Weliver founded MoneyUnder30.com at the age of 25 as he struggled to conquer post-college debt on entry level paychecks. Today, he balances blogging here to help young professionals jump start their financial lives with employment in the software industry and a new family. You can follow David on Twitter @MoneyUnder30.

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Comments

  1. yeehaa99 says:

    funny that they cant do direct deposit…think about the money and paper wasted on sending the rebate check

  2. Yes, it is. I would guess about $60 – $100 million? And you know the IRS would love it if we eliminated cash and paper checks all together so they could trace every transaction. Go figure.

  3. Shanna says:

    How do you go about making sure they have your correct address? We’ve only moved once, and the new address is on our 2007 taxes (already filed).

  4. It looks like the IRS has a form for that too! Here is how to change your address with the IRS

  5. ritzleona says:

    How soon can I expect my rebate check.

  6. Nashville says:

    I was a student for 1/2 of 2006 and was counted as a dependant for my father, who filed head of household. Will I get any rebate?

  7. stephanie says:

    Many of us that are on Social Security Disability or retired have no earned income & have had no need to file taxes for several years. How do we get our “so called stimulus check”?

  8. JOAN BRODSKI says:

    HOW DOES MY 92 YEAR OLD MOTHER GET A STIMULUS
    REBATE, WHEN SHE DOESN’T FILE AN TAX RETURN
    AS HER EARNED INCOME IS SO SMALL?

  9. To answer some of the questions that have come up in the comments to this post, here is further information from the IRS:

    http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=179094,00.html

    In the case of somebody with small earned income or social security disability benefits, you are most likely still eligible for the refund but MUST file a 2007 tax return — even if you don’t ordinarily have to, and even if you don’t owe any taxes — to receive the return.

    The latest word is that these refund checks will start being mailed in May, and may take several months to reach everybody.

  10. Tracey says:

    You have to had filed taxes for 2007 in order to get a rebate check. They will do direct deposit IF you opted for direct deposit when you filed your tax returns. As for people who receive SS not sure. The IRS web site can answer all of your questions.

  11. maria says:

    my refund for the 2007 was sent direct deposits but my account number was change march 13 2007 where will i get my tax stimulis check

  12. joyce lawrence says:

    will i get a stimulus rebate check

  13. Fred Wright says:

    you will get a refund if you are on ssi, railroad ret. and other soruce of income. You should be getting a letter telling you on how to file your return. I got my return and i,m on ssi.. if single 300.00 or married 600.00 and if there or children then theres more you get if you didn’t get your notice you will just keep watching your mail box and they do auto desp..GOOD LUCK!!

  14. Tamekia Veney says:

    Can you change to from paper to direct depoist

  15. Ty says:

    Maria, you will get your refund. If your account number changed they will send you a paper check. Bad news is they first try your back account, then they send your check, so you will have to wait a little longer.

  16. Ty says:

    Tamekia,
    I have read that you can not change, they go only by what method you used to get your tax refund. The only way to change that is if you had direst deposit and your bank has changed, then they will send a paper check.

  17. lynn says:

    if a return was filed for 2007 but not for 2006 will a person still get the stimulus rebate? also no letter has been received yet regarding the stimulus.

  18. Cris says:

    If I missed the April 15th deadline will I still get a check when I file my taxes?

  19. chavonne says:

    what site can you go to type your name and find out if you will be getting a check?

  20. See what you are getting, or if you are like me, not getting:

    http://www.irs.gov/app/espc/

  21. Anthony says:

    what if I don’t want direct deposit. can I get a paper check instead? there is fraud in my bank account someone stole my debit card now I’m over 500 negative. I hope my stimulus won’t go towards that.

  22. Tim says:

    I was scheduled to receive the rebate payment today via direct deposit….i visited the payment trace site to find out what the hold up is and received no love there either….who knows

    https://sa2.www4.irs.gov/irfof/IRServlet?app=IRACTCws?

  23. Tim says:
  24. Tim says:

    anyone any luck???

  25. anne says:

    will an injured spouse get a stim. check if a injured spouse form was comopleted for fed tax return?

  26. Chuck says:

    Well; here it is May 2nd. I had my tax refund direct deposited and guess what? No rebate deposited into my account. Oh well.

  27. meka says:

    I did file 2007 before April 15, but I have not filed my 2006 taxes at all. Will the rebate be withheld if you have not filed for other years?

  28. Jeramy says:

    Yep, May 4th here…my last two digits at 15, and I ain’t got crap!!!

    and yes, i have tried the tracker, no luck, and i have paid, filed and done everything for years…

    irs sucks

  29. Loree says:

    My son lives with me but he works and goes to school. He’s 19 so I was able to get the student deduction for him. Will he recieve a refund as well? He did file for 2007 and did recieve a refund check.

  30. rena decker says:

    I was also scheduled to get my check on the 2nd and didn’t. I found out if you used TurboTax to do your taxes and used direct deposit, it went through Santa Barbara Trust and the IRS is not considering that direct deposit and you will have to wait for a paper check.

  31. Erika says:

    My husband and I filed our taxes through Turbo Tax at the end of January, and had our rebate taxes by early February, by Direct Deposit. My husband’s SS# ends in 13 still NOTHING! We never even received this letter that people are saying they got saying that we are supposed to get it. We definitely qualify, in fact the economic stimulus calculator says that we should get approximately $1200. When I go to th IRS website “where’s my stimulus payment?” page this is the message it gives me:

    “We are sorry. Specific information about your Stimulus payment is not available.
    Possible reasons include:

    * Your payment may still be coming, but has not yet been scheduled. Information will be available here as payments are issued based on the last two digits of the primary SSN shown on your 2007 tax return. Specific information about your Stimulus Payment will not be available until about one week before your payment is scheduled to be issued. See the complete Payment Schedule below for more information.

    * You did not file a tax return for 2007 or your return is still being processed. Additional information about filing requirements is available.

    * The information entered did not match our records. Be sure to check the information you entered. You may Re-Enter your information as necessary.

    Remember, to qualify for the Stimulus Payment, you must meet the eligibility requirements. Please allow 6 weeks after filing your tax return before checking on the status of your Stimulus Payment.

    Payment Schedule
    Please allow 2 weeks from the date shown on the schedule to receive your payment.”

    This is BULL****! I am sooooo agrivated, and it figures that the government can’t get something right. My husband and I were really depending on this money but as usual I guess we are gonna get screwed!

    Anyone else having the same problem???

  32. I am retired.Receive $12,096.00 SS
    4,800.00 pension and work one day a week 1,928.16 yearly.Filed 2007 but had to pay.
    How much will I receive and will it be direct deposit since the year before 2006,I got a refund. My total yearly income is $18,824.00.

  33. mike says:

    when in the hell will i get a check from are dam goverment ive waited long enough we are all waiting on an agency that cant be trusted give me a break please.

  34. niequa says:

    were is my money i wonder. i filed in march also i did the hand r block card they denied me for the loan but i eventually got my money in one week, will i be able to get the stim check on the emerald card

  35. amos says:

    the social security took my tax check will they take this check to?

  36. daryl says:

    how do u find what day ur ck will b mailed on

  37. Donna says:

    I looked at my tax return that h&r block sent to the IRS and now i know for sure because i took the Ral and it went on my emerald card,i will be getting paper check not DD,because on my refund were it says direct deposit info i checked and it’s not my routing number nor my account number to my emerald card ,it must be the banks or h&r blocks.So that is why people that took the Ral will not be getting DD because the IRS dose not have are routing number or are account number.Sad thing is when i filed my tax and for the Ral i ended up having an offset of 100.00 and did not get my refund for 3 weeks but still had to pay fees to that bank for Ral.Now “NO” check for me until July 11 last # 93.

  38. Regina says:

    You can find out when you are getting it if you go to IRS.gov or IRS.com one of them will work and just scroll down and you will see the schedule. Hope this helps

  39. Matthew says:

    so what do we do if we did not recieve our check? mine was supposed to be direct deposited on the 9th..
    i have direct deposit set up with them, and had my taxes completed, etc… who would i contact to be like.. Where’s my money??… :(

  40. Beth says:

    It’s not like I enjoy reading the blogs above indicating so many have not recv’d their money, it’s just comforting knowing we are not the only ones. My husband and I have been checking our account every day (last two digits 44 and set up for direct deposit) for the past week to still find no money. It’s so depressing and so aggravating. We, like so many others, are depending on this money to play catch up.

  41. Jessica says:

    We were looking forward to getting our money direct deposited on May 9th..no such luck for us either. OUr last two is 58 and we direct deposited too…

  42. Jessica says:

    i have an update for all of you who were like me (waiting to have stim check direct deposited on May 9th) Well after a legnthy hold on the phone with the IRS, I was told that if you used a third party such as H&R Block or something like that to do your taxes then it is not considered direct deposit. Your check will be mailed. Oh well, we have waited this long..what’s another month I guess!!

  43. carol says:

    Just checked wheres my stimulas? Its due to be dd on the 16 my number 85..so they right on time.

  44. steve says:

    will you get ckeck if you owe back taxes.checking for a friend.

  45. mildred evans says:

    i have two daughters living and working in maryland alwalys file direct deposit taxes . they file the same day in febraury 2008 ,to this day they have not received their stimulus tax rebate miney in direct deposits in their accounts

  46. shonda says:

    My promised check should of been here on the 9th.
    I have direct deposit, and as of 10 mins. ago, still no check. My friend got hers this morning, right on time. Why me? if not for bad luck, i would have no luck at all.

  47. Karen says:

    My husband and I filed married filing sep. He received his right on time… I did not receive mine. IRS did deduct the $346 I owed on 4/14/08. Amazing… there was no delay in taking the $$$

  48. Sm00ches says:

    I received mine on May 9th through direct deposit. My last two of social are 70. When I filed my taxes I used H&R Blocks website and did it myself. My boyfriend hasn’t received his but he went through a third party… I’m hoping Jessica from above is right and he will eventually be mailed his.

  49. jay says:

    my wife didnt work that year will she get a check?

  50. kathy says:

    My mother was wondering since she receives social security disability can she still get a stimulus check. I used her as a dependent and my stimulus payment didnt include her so does she need to file one for herself to be able to get the check?