Monday, May 5, 2008
Economic Stimulus Blues
I'm very bummed out. I just came to learn that we will not be receiving our economic stimulus payment by direct deposit since we used TurboTax and had them take our fees out of our refund. Basically, the government doesn't have our direct deposit information - it was a third party (Santa Barbara Bank Blah Blah Blah) that set up a temporary account. So we'll be getting a paper check. This wouldn't be so bad but we moved after we filed our taxes so we may not get it until June or July since it takes 8-12 weeks for the government to process the address change. Sigh...
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3 comments:
Oh no... does that mean that if I used Turbo Tax that I won't be getting mine this week, either? Sob.
I didn't have my fees taken out of the refund, so hopefully...
Thanks for the heads up, though!
It's unfortunate that those who used a third party for refund/payment processing of their 2007 tax return will be receiving their REBATE by check. However, this is a decision the IRS made (and for valid reasons... see below). It applies to all taxpayers regardless of which tax software or tax franchise you went to. If the return's refund or the payment of fees were handled by a third party, that means your REBATE will be by check. Had the tax software companies and tax franchises known this back in tax season, I'm sure all would have handled this differently. Remember, the rebate legislation wasn’t passed until mid-February and the details on how the IRS would be processing them didn’t come for many more weeks after that.
If there is any consolation for those in this unfortunate situation, it is that the IRS is about a week ahead of their original schedule.
For more information on REBATES and TurboTax, please visit http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/kb/tax-content/tax-tips/5961.html.
As to why the IRS decided to send rebate checks to these taxpayers who used third parties, here is why. When you make this election, the bank sets up a temporary account used only to receive your 2007 refunds from the IRS. The IRS sends the 2007 income tax refunds to the temporary account and the bank then transmits it directly to the your actual account. Because the IRS does not receive taxpayer bank account numbers under this method, it cannot match taxpayers with their current bank accounts. That's why the IRS decided that taxpayers who entered into financial transactions with third parties will get rebates by mail. This also applies to taxpayers who used "refund anticipation loans" or RALs (loans made to tax filers against their expected refunds). TurboTax does not offer RALs.
Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax
jennifer.... Since you didn't have your fees taken out of your refund, you will get your rebate based on how you elected to receive your 2007 income tax refund. You'll receive the rebate by direct deposit if that is what you selected for your tax refund. Otherwise, it will be by check.
Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax
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