Glitch Shorts Taxpayers $105 Million

As Many As 350,000 Households Aren't Going To Get Their Stimulus Rebates On Time, IRS Says

(CBS)  Up to 350,000 households aren't getting the $300 per child owed them as part of their economic stimulus rebate payments, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.

The tax agency says taxpayer human error and computer glitches were responsible for the problem affecting a tiny percentage of the 130 million taxpayers expected to benefit from the refunds the government began sending out last month.

IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said the agency was confident it had identified all the people affected by the mistake. He said the IRS will send letters to those who missed out on the refund and that checks for the child credit will be mailed out in July. People need not contact the IRS or file additional paperwork, he said.

The rebates, the centerpiece of the government's $168 billion plan to revive the faltering economy, provide up to $600 for an individual and $1,200 for married couples, based on income levels. In addition, people are entitled to $300 for eligible children younger than 17.

He said the problem on the child payments was traced to taxpayers failing to check a box on their paper tax returns and to two computer software systems, less than 1 percent of those in use, that weren't capturing the information needed to trigger the payment.

The IRS has already refunded some $27 billion to about 30 million taxpayers. It expects to hit 130 million refunds by the end of June, with the last checks - except for those who requested extensions in filing their returns and a few other exceptions - going out in July.

[greeneyes222]

Ya know, first the IRS can''t manage to get out the stimulus payments and have to resort to paper checks and a 2 month delay.

Now they sort of mess up on giving people the full amount due.

And yet I know in my heart if WE owed THEM no excuses would be tolerated and penalties and pain would follow.

What a boondoggle.

[ioweign]

Where is Bush on this ?

If it was money for his Iraq quagmire he would be having press conferences and pushing for his Iraq money.

[keithle1]

Enough already. I''m tired of hearing about it.

[nbrdknkldgr]

When we owe the IRS, we pay interest and penalties...what penalties and how much interest should we Americans seek from the IRS???

[pensacola88]

It is better that the IRS confessed their error, rather than learn from frustrated taxpayers who reported the error to the news media.

Reminds me about the veteran disabled during their military service, who was asked by the Pentagon to give his bonus back, because the disability wasn''t caused by combat.

[blackbug99]

LOL, and don''t worry if you owe the IRS. They paid themselves the $600 rather than stimulate the economy.

[babooph]

Wow -600 once for the peons -many thousands for many years for the rich-what a country!!!Our vote is obviously of no value compared to their lobbyist.

[sistatee-2009]

The stimulus checks will serve to feed the oil companies. Thus D-i-c-k Cheney will eventually end up with all of it.

[gce65]

Glitch??? Right...
This has been diverted to some secret Bush Cheney or Rove special account.

[nothappyatall]

LOL, so now they are going to waste MORE money sending out 350,000 letters explaining the glitch- its in the NEWS, why mail letters???!

[nothappyatall]

e said the IRS will send letters to those who missed out on the refund and that checks for the child credit will be mailed out in July."

Newster to earth; instead of sending a freaking letter, why not just send the dam CHECK instead?? real simple, oh I forget though, this is the Government, we do stupid things by sending out millions of costly letters to tell people we are mailing a rebate check when this has been plastered all over the media for ages.

[kennergirl]

I guess the glitch always happens in the IRS'' favor not Joe Taxpayer.

[sgtrds-e4]

I wonder how much of this "glitch" ended up in Cheney and Bush''s pockets?

[dennisjr6]

IT DOESN''T SURPRISE ME ABOUT THIS GLITCH...

[brianbwb-2009]

Make them pay a penalty, just like they do when we''re late.

[chicablanca]

I KNOW PPL THAT GOT 600 BACK AND THEY MADE MORE THAN ME I ONLY GOT 300 IM SINGLE WORKING WHAT IS THAT? GO FIGURE THE RICH PEOPLE ARE GETTING IT ALL ONCE AGAIN!!!!

[samrensho]

The money was probably "accidentally" transferred to Shooters account.

[excoachken]

After 7+ years of this crew we must realize that their "glitshes" are multi-generational, so that makes this one a son-of-a-glitch.

[excoachken]

Ecuse my first "glitch" in the previous posting. It must be contageous.

[excoachken]

Excuse my "ecuse" from the previous. I have no excuse for it.

[michellem99-2009]

I knew it. I filled out their forms..HA a big lie.I have not met one person that got the money this story is talking about.

[standlee5]

What the hey is this stupid rebate costing us. 100million plus checks and letters. How many more people did the IRS have to hire to handle this. It''s insane when all they needed to do is CUT TAXES. Everybody having a freak out because they''re not getting their govt., check/handout. It feels like USSR or something. Next they''ll start opening govt. food distribution sites and we can all stand in line for a loaf of bread.

[standlee5]

I''m amazed the IRS is even able to handle this massive scale of paperwork during tax season. What must we be paying in overtime to IRS employees. It''s like back in the USSR. Why don''t he Dems admit that tax relief spells economic stimulus. Instead they''d rather spend massive amounts of money on a buearocratic adminitrative costs.

[waterboy1951]

Remember we are talking about the government agency called the IRS. They don''t usually get anything right. So now we expect them to all send out checks over and above our usual Tax refunds. Come on now. They did say we would be getting those checks in May or June, well it''s still May.

[truthyness]

IN HIS OWN WORDS

From Obama''''s Book, Audacity of Hope: ''''I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.''''

READ THIS BOOK!!!!

[observer2020]

Infernal Revenue Service! Why should they get anything right? They''re part of the government. Enough said!

[excoachken]

james 2468: You are sooo boring!

[cowgirl4eve1]

What I am not understanding about this whole "stimulas package" is why are the working, college age dependents between the age of 18 and 23 being omitted from this? There are many within that age group that work and make at least $4000 but are claimed as dependents on their parent''s returns because they are still students. However, neither the parents nor the working students are eligible for the $300. Wouldn''t it make sense, if indeed the intent is to stimulate the economy, to target that age group? We all know they will head straight for the mall or another similar type of establishment...

[ladyephesus1]

I agree cowgirl,I was expecting a payment for my 17 yr old daughter. She was younger than 17 the first half of 2007, so wouldnt that count? I claimed her as a dependent on my taxes. She also worked and made a little more than 4,000. She didnt get it nor did I. Nows shes preparing for college and could certainly use the money. I feel a protest should be in the works because that age range is the most expensive!

[aldon61]

excoachken: Listen to Dragonwagon5, it is kind of funny watching him trying to play an adult game with his child-like mind.

[forthepeopl1]

listen everyone, this is what happen to me this morning on this stimuless fars. lie to the americans.

if you are single,and you think you will get a 600 check,and your liabilty to the governmnet irs is a big fat 0, you will only get 300 for a check..this was not said by the president!!! he stated in black and white on t.v. if your single and you file your taxes you will get 600. and if your married you will get 1200, and every child add 300.00, but again if your adjusted ( net) incomes comes out to ( O ) you will only get 1/2 of what they said we were going to get...so all you spending that 1200 or 600 i hope your tax liablity net isn''t 0 because you will only get 1/2 of what you think your getting..

what a fars..this president should be fffffffffffffkkkkkkkkkkkk

[msay3]

Hmmmmm...Wonder if the IRS will pay interest+penalties to the people who will be getting their stimulus package late.

[forthepeopl1]

common sense is all that is needed.here it is.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson possibility of bailout for individual mortgage holders, singling out the growing number
going "under water" as their loans exceed the diminishing value of their properties.

please this is a simple thing to fix, why are you bending over for all of the wallstreet scum.
you have the right to do what this paulson/ben did for wallstreet,saying they had to to save america. so you can say the same thing, but this time you would be saveing america, and not wallstreet.
you must come out and stop the forcloseing of all these millions of homes, now,
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MANDATE THAT ALL MORTGAGES THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN OUT FROM 2000 TO 2007 BY ALL AMERICANS TO BE RE-FI A.S.A.P. NO EXCEPTIONS,


NO MATTER WHAT THE CREDIT IS, THEY WILL RE-FI EVERYONE AT JUST OVER PRIME, AND AT A RATE OF 40% OF WHAT IS OWED ON THE PROPERTY( PERSONAL HOMES ONLY)!!
WHY, BECAUSE MOST HOST ARE SELLING AT FORCLOSER FOR 20 TO 30 CENTS ON THE DOLLAR, SO AS TO WHAT PAULSON SAID TO BEARSTEARN 2 DOLLARS IS BETTER THAN NO DOLLARS SO TAKE THE DEAL..NOW REMEMBER ALL OF YOU, IF THIS COMPANY IN 6 MONTHS LOST 98% OF THEIR VALUE FROM 700 BILLION TO WHAT IS IT NOW. AND FOR SOMEONE TO COME IN AND BUY IT FOR NOTHING, WHAT IS THE REAL VALUE OF ALL THESE HOMES???NOBODY KNOWS, SO WHY NOT JUST START OVER??? AND STOP THE BLEEDING FOR ALL AMERICANS.

[e-mail]
DAVID A BELANGER

[fstop100]

The IRS Should be abolished.
we need a national sales tax to replace this boondoggle
of tax laws.
By the time we get our tax money we might be able to get 1/2 tank of heating oil for the winter while the CEO''s of big oil companies bask in the sun on their million dollar yachts!

[whatithink-2009]

fstop100,

A national sales tax is a bad idea. It will create a black market of goods, more stealing and since the poor and middle class spend more of their incomes than the rich, would push the burden of taxation onto them. Bad idea.

[mjvw2]

the same government you want to make responsible for your health care

[pfd572]

The last Democratic president left office with the largest surplus in history, without impacting the military or other government agencies, so it is possible.

[pfd572]

jamesm and dragonwagon: the apologists, brain washed, and ignorant pawns of the bush/cheney criminal enterprise. They actually believe what they are saying which makes it both hilarious and pathetic. How sad for them when the new democratic administration and congress takes office. GASP

[pfd572]

whatithink: And yet the rich buy big ticket items that would be taxed under this proposal. Luxury cars, big houses, other real estate, etc. would mean big taxes. So I don''t understand the idea that they wouldn''t pay a proportional amount. Am I missing your point?

[forthepeopl1]

HEY POTATOHEAD PAULSON, YOUR BODDIE ON WALLSTREET WILL BE GETTING THIS BACK. GOOD LUCK, HA HA HA HA HAH

let me see, oh ya- so who speculated more, wallstreet with billions of mortgages selling them to investors for more billions on false appraisels????? or someone like myself that was told 6 years ago the home i was bying for 280,000,and was appraised by three indpendent appraisel companys by all banks fighting to get my 830 becan score by the way, and they all came up with the same number 475000 to 500,000 so they said great buy, we thought to. and my rate by the way is fix at 3.75 for 30 years, beat that, but now we have to help my father-inlaw after loseing his wife for 50 yrs, he didn''''t want to move in with us so we move in with him. now we have been trying to sell our home for the past 2 1/2 yrs, starting at 399,000,
now we are down to 299,000 and droping 20000 a week started this week, we owe 275000, and the appraisel has come back from 3 more appraiser for 125000 to 150000 in good times..so even us good americans are getting f/u/c/k/, i told them to just sell the home for what they can get, and our mortgage company will take the hit, i have ask them to re-fi the house for what its really worth, but they said f-you,so i will let them get f/u/c/k/. and i have never mist a payment, what a joke, this congress is, banks wont to help..right, show me one..

[standlee5]

It''s not even a refund. You don''t even have to pay ant taxes to be eligible. It''s a govt. giveaway.

[johnshaft4]

The entire Bush administration has been a glitch.

[jw218389]

Government giveaway?? So what! They tried giving all our money to Halliburton and you see where that got us....

Give it to individuals and I predict that on 1-20-2009 the economy will improve drastically and oil prices will drop.

Bush - robbing from the poor and giving to the rich.

W is THE worst president ever selected (oops I meant "elected".

[scorpio59er]

It''s all funny money anyway. The Bush jokers were handing out wads of cash in Iraq on street corners -- and at least $8.8 billion in Iraqi money that was given to Iraqi ministries by the former U.S.-led authority there cannot be accounted for. Not to mention the hundreds of billions given to Halliburton, et al.

It''s just one giant joke -- on all of us.

[kaylag04]

from: scorpio59er "Not to mention the hundreds of billions given to Halliburton, et al."

Actually, you''re probably referencing KBR, Inc., Which, until April 2007, was a subsidiary of Halliburton. KBR, Inc. has received approximately $27 billion in government contracts since 2002, and has never placed higher than 6th place in top federal contractors. The top three, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed have retained the top three spots since the Clinton Administration. Halliburton has had one listed federal contract since 2000 - for $63,143.00 in FY 2006.

Your argument comes from the right emotional place, but the partisan hysteria and injection of fictional numbers adds nothing to the debate.

[nonayabiness]

Nobody has been ''shorted.'' I must say, given the general public opinion of the IRS, it, and the Treasury Department I presume, have done a great job of undertaking this nationwide initiative with minimal lead time.

We paid to the Feds this year, so because of no direct deposit, we have to ''wait'' for the mailed stimulus.

My concern is, how many people are going to take the 1200 and the 300 for each kid and use it all to buy a plasma TV, sending the money to China, who''s newfound wealth is causing competition for oil, and then two months later defaulting on their mortgage because they chose not to use this ''bonus'' or ''unexpected windfall'' responsibly.

[nonayabiness]

forthepeopl1

Why don''t you just try to rent your home until economic conditions get better. Besides, if you are moving in with your father-in-law, who as you said lost his wife of 50 years, then he''s probably getting up there in age, right? Is he leaving you his house?

Is his house more suitable for you and your family than the one you chose? And, if you are living with him, is he charging you rent? If not, then you hopefully would have the money to continue to pay your own mortgage. Forget what someone else says its worth. Just hang on to it.

[nonayabiness]

forthepeopl1 -

Some more observations. How come you owe 275k on a house you bought for 280k 6 years ago? Did you not make any downpayment at all? If you''ve made all your payments on time, why isn''t something going towards principal? Should be a WHOLE lot more than 5k towards principle over 6 years. Did you have to pay for PMI? Also, if your rate is locked at 3.75 for 30 years and you are correct about that, then why would you refinance? I haven''t seen any rates anywhere near that.

Were other similar homes in the area selling for 475 to 500k at the time you bought yours? To get 35-40% off a home when economic times were much better sounds
shifty to me.

We''re looking for some homes to buy to rent out and/or flip, perhaps we should talk. We don''t do this as a business, but figure we might take advantage of the favorable market conditions and also do our part to revive empty homes.

[searcher911]

If you are the sort of person who refuses to be responsible for his/her own actions of course every problem is someone else''s fault. Everyone else has to be perfect and make perfect decisions (from the first person''s perspective.) Since the president is nominally in charge it obviously has to be his fault! Because the US is not a dictatorship he actually has minimal power to act on his own. Congress has been with him every step of the way and it is powered by lobbyists who pay for reelection campaigns. And a large part of this money goes to our great media empires, who in turn blame only the president. And the slow witted believe the 20 second sound bites that the press feeds them. What a country...

[forthepeopl1]

Under Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson%u2019s .. Former leadership at
Goldman Sachs, the company has been instrumental to its penetration of Western
capital and other markets. - - Henry Paulson was vastly effective in Communist
China%u2019s .. Interests and enabling their access to Western economic assistance
and high technology

In late January 2006, Goldman Sachs purchased a stake in the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China%u2019s biggest bank, for $2.58 billion
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson''''''''s .. Personal stake .. In this transaction
was $25 million

A PERSONAL BAIL OUT for : Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and His
Criminal Friends

(Mar 27, 2008 (ruters.com) BBC) ... White House Resists Pleas for .. Mortgage Bailout
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As clamor rises for federal help for homeowners
who face losing their homes .. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson .. Seems
to be digging in heels against the effort.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson sounded a tougher note than ever against any
possibility of bailout for individual mortgage holders, singling out the growing number
going "under water" as their loans exceed the diminishing value of their properties.