Dear Moneyist,
I feel I was unfairly denied the stimulus payment. In 2019, I made a total of $ 51,331. My filing status was “single, no children.” I was denied the stimulus payment on 4/10/20 because the IRS based my income on my 2018 taxes.
I was permanently laid off from my job as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. I was the supervisor of the department that processed and reconciled parking citations written by my city.
Since mid-March, the number of parking citations drastically fell due to the coronavirus pandemic, and this caused a major reduction of revenue in my department which resulted in me losing my job.
I do not understand why they cannot send out the stimulus checks for the people that do qualify, according to their 2019 taxes. Why didn’t they put the checks on hold until the 2019 taxes were received if the 2018 taxes did not qualify, instead of flat out denying people who truly do qualify?
This timing game is preventing people who qualify from receiving the assistance that is desperately needed. I understand there was no time to iron everything out before the checks were dispersed. But why not fix this loophole, and send the checks that truly qualify from their recent 2019 taxes?
I was told by the IRS they cannot go back on their original decision. It is obvious that this decision was rushed, and not thought through. We, the qualifying taxpayers, should not have to suffer due to this loophole.
I am not a high income earner. My 2018 income was inflated due to a 401(k) disbursement that I had to take to save my house due to a scheduled layoff in 2018.
I really wish someone could help. The $ 1,200 is desperately needed.
A Very Disappointed Unemployed Taxpayer
Dear Disappointed,
I’m very sorry you were laid off.
The pandemic has affected so many parts of the economy. Parking-ticket revenue was one area that did not occur to me. I understand you are frustrated, and it does feel unfair. However, I do hope that the weekly $ 600 in extra unemployment benefits went some way in making these last few months easier to manage. It’s more for some people than others, I know, but the $ 2.2 trillion CARES Act has gone some way in easing that burden for millions of Americans in a situation similar to your own.
Had the Internal Revenue Service delayed the stimulus-check program for you, and others like you, it would have also delayed it for millions of other Americans. It did not work with the precision of a Swiss watch, but the staff at the IRS were working hard to send as many checks to people as soon as they humanly could — with the challenges of computer networks that were not set up for such a public-health and financial emergency.
The Moneyist: I didn’t get my stimulus check because I owe back child support. It’s not fair. My stepchildren rely on me — what can I do?
The good news: Your $ 1,200 stimulus check will arrive with your 2020 tax refund. Lawmakers are still wrestling over the details of the next stimulus package. “It’s clear no Phase Four deal will be made until the week of August 3rd, which remains our base case,” said analysts at Beacon Policy Advisors in a note Thursday. “But given the current lack of unity among Republicans, which could slow down the pace of the negotiations with Democrats, a final deal could even slip a few days further into the week of Aug. 10.”
The bad news: It will be based on 2019 tax returns, too.
