Some here know I'm a tax pro, I just got an email about this. Everybody knows the basic numbers of the stimulus payments that will be going out in a few weeks. What we didn't know is this: If you've not filed a tax return for years for whatever reason but a big one is you're on Social Security and your income is low enough that you've not needed to file, you must file a return in order to get the stimulus money. See this link:
Filing a tax return is the big thing but there is other good info as well. Also, one thing not mentioned is if you've moved recently and/or you've changed banks. If they have your current direct deposit info, no problem but if they don't and you've moved they'll send a check to your last known address and if the Post Office doesn't forward it to you it gets returned to the IRS. File now so they have your current address and bank info.
I see in Treasury Department announced that Social Security recipients will not have to file a not have to file a tax return in order to receive the economic stimulus payments.
The Treasury Department, clearing up confusion, has announced Social Security recipients will not have to file a tax return in order to receive the economic stimulus payments the government is preparing to send out amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It was unclear in guidance posted earlier this week whether Social Security recipients who don't normally file taxes would have to in order to receive the money. But the Treasury Department said Wednesday that those beneficiaries will automatically receive the money. The IRS will use the information that the Social Security Administration has on file.
Social Security recipients won't have to take any action.
This is, of course, good news.
Hopefully someone with actual expertise in handling taxes - Bob perhaps - could verify if I'm reading this correctly.
We're self-employed and filed our income tax. We'll send it out on time too.
We filed on-line for unemployment. Congress passed the compromise bill that gives some relief for gig workers.
The system is overloaded and crashed a lot. Between Leilani and myself, we must have spent 20 hours on it. The system crashes, you have to start all over, and the delay between page loads can be as much as 3 minutes.
To be fair, there is no way the government could have prepared for a zillion people needing help at the same time.
Whatever we get will be welcome.
This too will pass and when COVID is under control, we'll have to work out a new normal.
I plan on playing for free at the restaurant that has hired us once a week for 12 years until the business picks back up. They've been good to us, and it'll be time to help them get back on their feet.
When I can, I also plan to spend as much money as I can afford at local mom-and-pop type businesses.
I just checked on this and the IRS issued this statement in a tweet last night. I haven't received an email yet either from IRS or my tax software company but I'm sure I will any time now. I think it's a good move but it probably doesn't change for other low income people not on SS who haven't filed in years but we'll have to see. Things are moving so fast on many fronts it's hard to keep up when I'm fighting the internet to get some tax work done remotely.
I feel your pain Notes, and then just wait until tomorrow when the Small Business Loan program starts. That program is you get a loan and if you use it to pay your employees for 8 weeks the loan is forgiven. 350 billion is going to go like "poof" at every bank in the country and of course that's all online as well. It's first come first served so it will be another online madhouse.
Here it is, just got this from Drake and note these big software companies are in direct contact with the IRS:
Update:
Stimulus Payments and Social Security Recipients.
The IRS has announced that Social Security recipients will automatically receive economic impact payments.
Those receiving Social Security benefits who don’t typically file a tax return will not need to file an abbreviated (simple) tax return to receive their stimulus payment. The IRS will use information from Forms SSA-1099 and RRB-1099 to generate payments for these individuals. The payment will be sent as a direct deposit or check, however they normally receive their benefits. From the news release: “We want to ensure that our senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and low-income Americans receive Economic Impact Payments quickly and without undue burden,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “Social Security recipients who are not typically required to file a tax return need to take no action.”
IMPORTANT: By design, direct deposit information keyed on the DD screen in Drake Tax does not get transmitted with a tax return that does not have a refund (A NOTE is produced). Based on the latest information we have, the IRS still plans to offer an online portal for the purpose of collecting deposit information from taxpayers who haven’t provided it on their 2018 or 2019 tax return. Providing account information is not required to receive a stimulus payment. Checks will be mailed if deposit information is not available.
At this time, we haven’t received guidance regarding low-income taxpayers who are not required to file a return and don’t receive Social Security benefits. Our best advice at this time is to wait for further information.
Note the detail concerning Direct Deposit info and non SS recipients.
<...snip...>then just wait until tomorrow when the Small Business Loan program starts. That program is you get a loan and if you use it to pay your employees for 8 weeks the loan is forgiven. 350 billion is going to go like "poof" at every bank in the country and of course that's all online as well. It's first come first served so it will be another online madhouse.
Bob
Thanks, Bob.
The problem is I have no employees. I am a self-employed businessman. Leilani and the sub-contractors I use or that sell things on my site are all subcontractors and get 1099 forms instead of paychecks.
The 1099s for this year have already been filed to the IRS.
So I don't think I can use it to pay employees if I don't actually have employees.
Leilani and I have already filed for Florida state unemployment (reeployment in newspeak) and supposedly that will automatically enroll us in the $600/week for so many weeks from the Fed.
Since the mortgage is paid, and we have no debts other than my car payments, we should be OK.
Fortunately we have done what no government has done, we live below our means. We don't buy things on credit except for our cars (which we drive until they become unreliable) and we have a savings plan for emergencies.
We think that as self-employed people, with no guarantee of future work, it's important to have that savings buffer.
Actually, you don't need employees. Keith pointed that out on the virus thread and I checked into it further. This is great news.
There are now several vids on YT about this and here's one done by a CPA:
Right now the application process has been delayed for a week. This is brand new and note near the end he says it's not clear if this is based on the gross or net. I have not had the time to dig into this myself so I'm not saying this is absolutely correct but as far as the basic question, yes Sch C people can get this with no employees. And since I am one of those for my tax business I'll be looking into this as well.
I just watched two more of his vids. He is more credible than I thought because he is one of the major CPE presenters nationwide. His course may be one that I'll wind up taking for part of my CPE credits this year. He said his course will be ready May 1.
This is very deep and I'm not going to even try to get into it on this forum but I'll say this about one vid I just finished. There is a big difference between initially getting a loan then later on qualifying for the forgiveness part. They are two different things and the forgiveness is not based on what happened in the past, it's based on what happened between Feb 15 and June 30, 2020. This means we won't exactly know how much will be forgiven and some of it or all of it may need to be paid back, there's a lot of detail in the new law.
If anybody here wants to look into this consult a local tax professional about it.
The latest email I got from the IRS E Alert system:
1. Economic Impact Payments: More information; graphics available to share with clients, others
The Treasury Department and the IRS announced this week that distribution of Economic Impact Payments will begin in the next three weeks and will be distributed automatically, with no action required for most people. More information on these payments, as well as other relief pertaining to COVID-19, will be posted to IRS.gov/coronavirus as it becomes available.
Share information: In addition, the IRS is creating special informational graphics about the Economic Impact Payments that can be shared with your clients or posted on your website. These graphics include details about who qualifies for the $1,200 payments. The first graphic is available at IRS.gov/coronavirus and additional ones will be available soon. Please share these to help taxpayers understand important details about these payments.
2. Scam alert: Schemes related to coronavirus and Economic Impact Payments
The IRS is urging everyone to be on the lookout for calls and email phishing attempts about the coronavirus, or COVID-19. These contacts can lead to tax-related fraud and identity theft. Taxpayers should watch not only for emails but text messages, websites and social media attempts that request money or personal information.
"History has shown that criminals take every opportunity to perpetrate a fraud on unsuspecting victims, especially when a group of people is vulnerable or in a state of need," said IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Don Fort. "While you are waiting to hear about your Economic Impact Payment, criminals are working hard to trick you into getting their hands on it. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division is working hard to find these scammers and shut them down, but in the meantime, we ask people to remain vigilant."
For some reason when I copy/paste from these emails the links don't show as active but you should be able to copy them into your browser if you want to see more info. The last thing concerning scammers is very important, those **(%^#! never stop.
Now, here's a really important point about the $1,200 stimulus payments we're all going to get (most of us anyway} I just realized this yesterday as I was about to pull the trigger on a client's return and get it efiled. Remember, the IRS will take your 2018 return and give you the payment off of that if your 2019 return isn't filed yet and now we all have until July 15 to file it! That means if your situation changed enough between 2018 and 2019 you may screw yourself out of $1,200 if you file 2019 right now and if you're married it could be $2,400. Example, I almost pulled the trigger on a client yesterday and efiled his return but I suddenly realized he got divorced in 2019 and is now filing single. I checked his AGI for 18 and it was 138K. For 2019 as single his AGI is 114K. Married joint filers can make up to 150K and single filers up to 75K so guess what? DO NOT file 2019, let the IRS pay him the stimulus based on 18! Damn, I was right on the efile page in my tax program and all I had to do was check a box and hit enter when I realized this.
There a lot of different scenarios here. If you have dependent children you get $500 for each child. Maybe the kid turned 17 last year and didn't enroll in college so you can no longer claim him for 19 but you did for 18. That's $500 and another reason to hold off on filing 19.
Make sure you check those differences from 18 to 19 to make sure you're not about to make the same mistake I almost did. I would really hate to explain that to my client if he caught that after it was filed and called me to ask about it. DUH!! Sorry, I'm a dummy! Not a great phone call.
A quick update to my post yesterday concerning not filing 2019. Those 75K and 150K income numbers are not a brick wall cut off. If you're over those numbers the stimulus payments are reduced on a sliding scale so you wouldn't lose it all unless you went over the final maximum which is 99K and 198K.
Here's the latest video from JJ the CPA this morning concerning the PPP, self employed, SBA, federal unemployment and other info. Note the problem with some banks concerning these loans, I already got a call on that from a client. When he shows the links to forms on the IRS and SBA's websites, notice the fields on the forms are highlighted in light blue. Those are active fields you can fill in on screen using your computer keyboard, just put your mouse cursor on a blue field and start typing. You then save the file as a pdf and print it out.
Even though I'm not in any of the groups mentioned in the video I still appreciate you posting the video link for those that are in a group that is mentioned.
As an aside, the still screen shot used in the video link is funny. Judging from the pose, my first thought is this CPA fella might have a second life as a used car or snake oil salesman!
Geez Bob, instead of "IMPORTANT INFO FOR US TAXPAYERS", I wish you had written the title as "IMPORTANT INFO FOR U.S. TAXPAYERS"
Just about 'ALL OF US' are tax payers I kept thinking, how does that affect me? Until I added the periods. All good now.
Stay safe, you and everyone.
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- could verify if I'm reading this correctly.
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I kept thinking, how does that affect me? Until I added the periods. All good now. 
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