Economic Impact Payment (EIP)
What is Economic Impact Payment?
An Economic Impact Payment is an emergency stimulus package that is provided by a government to cater to those persons affected by an inevitable catastrophe, epidemic, natural calamities, or unforeseen circumstances, making it difficult to get daily basic needs.
These are funds that are set aside to be paid to persons affected economically by these circumstances. In the current situation around the globe, covid 19 has affected most countries and thus forcing the governments to create EIPs. The government may also issue a second impact payment where it provides another stimulus to help the citizens cope with the emergency.
Who issues Economic Impact Payment?
In the United States of America, the Internal Revenue Service is responsible for issuing the economic impact payment. After the Senate has passed the Economic Impact Payment act, then the IRS duty is releasing and ensuring those eligible have met the requirements.
The IRS is responsible for calculating and automatically remitting the stimulus funds to the most suitable persons. However, some persons may be required to provide additional information to get the funds.
EIP Eligibility and Qualifications.
To qualify for the payments in the USA, there are certain set conditions that one must meet. These include that; you must be a single US resident and the adjusted gross income must be less than $99,000, if you being the head of the household and file that you earn a gross income less than $146,500 and also if you file earnings jointly but without children and earn less than $198,000. Also, children aged 16 or under this age are eligible for payments. However, those in foster homes are not eligible for this payment.
EIP Payment Amounts.
From the above the payments will be disbursed as follows;
As a single resident of the United States of America with a Social Security number and an aggregate income of less than $75,000, you are entitled to receive the full amount of $1,200. This sum decreases as your AGI goes up; however, if the gross amount reaches $99,000, then no eligibility for the stimulus.
If being the head of the household and your aggregate income is less than $112,500, then you are entitled to a full $1,200 payment. This stimulus gets decreasing as the amount rises to a maximum of $146,500, then no eligibility past this.
For couples filing jointly but without children and they got a gross income less than $150,000, they will get a $ 2,400 payment, but this amount decreases gradually to zero at $198,000.
Children aged 16 or below this age, their parents, are entitled to a $500 per child, whether born, adopted, or placed in foster care in 2020.
Also read:
Track My Stimulus Check
Requesting My Economic Impact Payment.
Regarding the current situation in the USA, getting the coronavirus EIP payments will be secure as long as one has filed taxes well for 2018 or 2019. The IRS will be able to use this information to calculate payments as required.
Also, if you haven�t filed either 2018 or 2019 tax returns but receive SSI, social security, Railroad Retirement, and Department of Veteran Affairs, the IRS will use this information to calculate the payments.
Calculating my Economic Impact Payment.
Each individual who meets eligibility criteria will receive a maximum of $1,200 while individuals or rather couples who file together will receive a maximum of $2,400. Also, for each child eligible for payment, the parent will receive $500 for the child.
Calculating the possible
Economic Impact Payments that you may receive, you will use a simple mathematical formula whereby you use a 5% phase-out. An example would be if, in a married filing joint, the aggregate gross income given is $150,000, but you file $170,000, then you are $20,000 above the required amount for maximum earnings, therefore, reducing the amount by $1,000. (5% 0f 20,000=$,1000) 2,400-1000, you get 1400, thus entitled to $1,400.
These payments are not taxable, and therefore when filing the returns, one will not be required to take into account these funds since they are considered to be stimulus payments.
Receiving My Economic Impact Payment.
The payments for the EIP stimulus are to be made in direct deposit to the accounts if one has filed the returns for 2018 or 2019. Also, the payments can be made through the mail which the Internal Revenue System has. These payments are automatically deposited to the account: mostly, an electronic funds transfer is used for electronically direct depositing of the amounts. According to the IRS, it had estimated that it would take up to 20 weeks for everyone who has met eligibility in the nation to receive the payments.
Also, some payments are made using the Electronic Impact Payment Card. The card contains the amount of money one has received for the EIP funds. This card is just like a usual debit or credit card and can be used for making purchases as may be required either through online or swapping. These cards are sent by the IRS and received as mail-in plain envelopes, and they contain the name of the holder, Visa logo, card number, and the bank issuing the card.
Tracking EIP
On tracking the covid 19 EIP Payments, the IRS has provided an online payment tracker that enables one to get the details regarding the stimulus funds payments. The get my payment tracker allows tell you if your money will arrive as a paper check or as an EIP prepaid debit card.
Also, after tracking the payment status with the IRS, signing up with the postal service app would be of great importance so that they will notify you once your payments arrive in the mail.
Returning Economic Impact Payment
When these EIP payments are made, some of them may be erroneously made and therefore requiring to be returned as per the IRS requirements. These may be for deceased or incarcerated individuals or duplicate checks or persons whose marital status has changed from single to married.
Returning the EIP involves; if they were in the form of physical checks in the mail, one should write void on the endorsement section and mail it back. For direct deposit of the stimulus or cashed checks, it should be submitted back to the IRS nearest location writing the tax identification number and taken back to the treasury.
EIP Fraud
As these funds are being remitted, fraud scenarios and cases arise. These may include, but not limited scammers who may make bogus phone calls in the pretense of IRS representatives, phishing emails, and texts meant for defrauding the victim.
Also, the funds are frauded by top personas working in the IRS by making double transfers and in excess in a manner that is difficult to identify the corrupt stimulus cases since they got a great influence.
Conclusion
Generally, the Economic Impact Payments are of high importance in making the lives of those persons whose income is generally low and also who are most likely to have lost their jobs during such pandemic as covid 19.
The government makes such steps of making the stimulus fund available even going further to issuing a second EIP as may be deemed fit for the benefits of its citizens.