Economic Stimulus Package Officially Finalized: Now What About My Tax Rebate Check?

Earlier today President Bush officially signed off on the Economic Stimulus Package, so it is now official. For all those people wondering about when they can expect to receive their tax rebate checks, the current estimated timeframe is sometime in May.

If you are wondering whether or not you are entitled to a refund, the main qualifying factor is your income. If you make less than $75,000 as an individual, or $150,000 as a married couple, then you should be getting the full rebate. The full rebate is $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples. In addition you can also get another $300 per child. For every thousand dollars your income is above the limits, however, you lose approximately 5 percent of the rebate.

According to the IRS website, in order to receive the rebate checks tax payers don’t need to do anything other than file their 2007 taxes as normal. The rebate checks are actually part of the 2008 tax year, but the payments will be delivered based on 2007 taxpayer information. According to the Wall Street Journal, taxpayers who qualify for the rebate based on 2007 information but not on their 2008 information will not be required to pay back their rebate. In addition, those who will qualify for a higher rebate amount based on their final 2008 information—such as those who have a baby in 2008—will be able to claim that additional rebate on their 2008 taxes.

For more information on the stimulus plan visit the IRS website.

Investors will have to wait and see if the stimulus plan works as planned, but the bet here is that it doesn’t come close to meeting the expectations of Washington, and just leads our nation further in debt. For those who don’t speak investor-ese, that means it is time to get out of the dollar. Even though the dollar has rallied somewhat recently, the long term outlook is not good. For some investment ideas see our article: Decline of the Dollar Spurs Diversification.