Don't Rush To Spend That Rebate Check

MarketWatch's Marshall Loeb Gives 6 Reasons To Get Your IRS Refund, Then Spend It

(MarketWatch)  Most Americans will soon receive rebate checks from the IRS worth anywhere between $300 to $1,200 or more, and many businesses have already launched marketing campaigns hoping to lure those potential customers.

Yet, many folks will not be eligible for a check at all and could end up in a bind if they've already hit the mall and put extra charges on their credit cards, counting on the rebate cash.

The global tax firm of Grant Thornton says if you belong to any of the following six categories of taxpayers, you should think twice before charging a purchase with plans to pay it off with that "free" government money. You may not be eligible for a rebate -- or at least not for a full or timely one -- if:

You owe the tax man money.
The IRS has acknowledged that it will deduct from all rebate checks any federal tax debt. The agency will also withhold on behalf of all 50 states, and even Puerto Rico and American Samoa, any money owed in state or territory taxes. If you owe back taxes to the IRS or any state government, you could see your rebate reduced or gone altogether.

You make too much money.
The rebate payments will begin to phase out for individuals with gross incomes above $75,000, and for married couples filing jointly with incomes over $150,000. If your adjusted gross income is above those levels, calculate your rebate carefully before going on a spending spree. Payments to high-income taxpayers will be reduced by 5% of all income above the phase-out thresholds.

You don't make enough money.
If you have less than $3,000 in qualifying income, don't expect a rebate. Only those with $3,000 or more of income will be eligible. However, you will be able to count income typically exempt from taxation, like Social Security or veteran's benefits, to reach that minimum.

You don't file a tax return.
If you don't file a tax return, you won't receive a rebate. Many people with low incomes are not required to file a return, but will need to in order to receive a rebate. If you have over $3,000 in qualifying income, file a return even if you don't have to.

You're just unlucky.
The IRS's recently released rebate payment schedule is based on the last two digits of return filer's Social Security number. However, the IRS warns that a small percentage of tax returns will require additional time to process. For these returns, stimulus payments will not be made according to schedule. Taxpayers who put purchases on their credit cards in anticipation of a quick rebate check may be forced to pay unexpected interest if their return processing is held up.

You don't have a valid Social Security Number.
Some taxpayers without Social Security numbers file tax returns using an IRS-generated Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. These people will not be eligible for a rebate. If married and filing jointly, each spouse must have a valid SSN to receive the rebate.

[stevemd2]

I apologize for the 6 or so duplicate posts. I kept getting a message saying the post button was temporarily turned off, but in actuality it was posting the message

SteveMD2

[SJames6621]

The history of the world has been the struggle between the ordinary person and the superwealthy. America was in some ways unique in that it had not only the very rich and the poor, but a flourishing middle class. We don''t have kings, and we didn''t have big business creating the laws that enhance their power at the expense of the average citizen who is not one of the very very wealthy.

Thanks to the policies of the republicans under Bush, big business has run rampant. Jobs disappear, health care is unaffordable or unavailable for tens of millions, and now the crooked - that is exactly what they are - crooked mortgage deals are costing people their homes as well.

The legacy of the Republican Bush administration could be the loss of opportunity to become, or to remain in the middle class. The income gap between the very wealthy and the average American is growing. Only a near clean sweep of Bush''s gang of far right wing republicans, who are anything but conservative on the economy, will give us back what America is supposed to be about for the great majority of our citizens.

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earns over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for earnings over 25mil. per year, including making current all deferred income deals.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth? Is your God the same as Bush''s and the repubs'' real God - the God of Greed?

[stevemd2]

Where is the money coming from - our children who will discover how much more deeply in debt they are thanks to Bush and his repub lockstepers

The money should come from a 50% income tax bracket for those earning over 5 million/year, and a 75% bracket for those earning more then 50mil. per year, including making current all deferred income.

All Bush has done is given big business who bankrolls much of the repub party the go ahead to steal the average person''s home, ship their job off to near slave labor countries, and send our sons off to a war based on lies, while letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. The only people who will support the repubs this year are the super-rich and those who aspire to be that rich. What do you think your chances are of super-wealth?

[trillion1]

Only someone as stupid as bush , who tells everyone to shop, will go out and spend this money on things. Pay bills or save it. You''ll be in better shape the next time bush tells us how strong the economy is.

[element51]

Sorry, I had a computer malfunction.

[element51]

terribayless..It''s great that you brought up Dave Ramsey. I started listening to him about 4 years ago and it just blew me away. All of a sudden it was like I woke up in a new world. He made me understand how foolish I had been so I started to follow his advice. It was hard but we finally became debt free. No credit cards, no mortgage, no car payments, no installment payments. Yes, we had to lower our standard of living a little but it wasn''t that bad. Now instead of giving our money to the banks and credit card companies we put it into savings. I can not describe how good it feels to be free. My strong advice to any of you is listen to Dave. Even if you can only follow part of his plan it will change your life. He changed my life and I will always be grateful to him.

[notopennshut]

It''s not just about the rebate check! People should just not go out and spend, whether they have, or don''t have. Many of those who did that are now in dire circumstances and begging for help. This rebate check is what the government claims is the "help" for its citizens. Baloney! We got into the subprime mess because people went out and spent what they did not have, with the help of all those companies. Yes, if you did not have sufficient down payment, take the loan offered and now you can''t afford it. So why should the government and the rest of us who have been responsible have to sacrifice and help bail them out with our prudence and hard-earned money?? It is not fair to those who have been responsible. Okay, we bail them out, but for how long? If they are unable to get out of this themselves, we, as a nation should not be propping them and bailing them out for the rest of our lives. We have to live too. And bailing them out do not teach them fiscal responsibility. They would expect more of the same. So I say, if they have to go through the process, so be it. Perhaps this will be the lesseon learned-NOT TO GO OUT AND SPEND WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE.

[terribayless-2009]

www.daveramsey.com be weird be debt free!!

[mcv57]

The rich does not like sharing its wealth with the world. They just want more, more, more, until you die.

[bobnjersey]

[SMILE, We''''re getting a (somewhat fiscal conservative)Republican for President!!]
[Posted by nolle61 at 04:35 PM : Mar 27, 2008]

so ... you''ve never heard the phrase "a week is a lifetime in politics"?