What’s In the COVID Relief Bill: Individuals
DISCLAIMER: The information below is based upon the most recently proposed legislation by Congress known as the COVID Relief Bill. This bill has not yet been signed or approved by the Office of the President as of the date of this post. As such, the below post has been written under the pretense that this bill would be approved; however, this should not be misconstrued as absolute fact or implication of the writer’s opinion on whether said legislation will be approved now or in the future.
Second Stimulus Checks Are Coming
New amounts: $600 per taxpayer ($1200 per married couple) plus $600 for each dependent child under the age of 17. Income limitations start as your income (2019 tax return) exceeds $75,000 for a single person, $112,500 for a head of household, and $150,000 for a married couple. Note these amounts are lower than the previous stimulus payments. Just because you qualified earlier this year doesn’t mean you will qualify now!
PS….When preparing your 2020 tax returns we’re going to be asking for amounts received, both now, and previously, because the amount has to be shown on your 2020 tax returns (as technically this is an advance payment of a tax credit). Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay federal tax on this, nor (generally) do you have to repay any if you received more than you should have. However, if you should have received MORE based on your 2020 tax return we’ll get that extra for you!
Collecting Unemployment
- If you’re collecting unemployment, you’ll receive boosted benefits of an additional $300 per week (federal aid) through the end of March, and the maximum time period for collecting unemployment is extended
- States will have the ability to waive repayment if they erroneously overpaid unemployment to you (if this is you, ask about this at the state unemployment office!)
- Kids that received emergency aid grants from college – this grant is now tax free (yay for the college kids!)
There’s a million other things in this beast of a bill….it’s only 5593 pages long (gulp). We’ve tried to cover what we think matters most to our clients in this short synopsis. But if you have questions on the above, or any other provision that we didn’t discuss, reach out to us! And, as always, make sure to subscribe to our blog! As we learn more details & timelines for these measures, we’ll share accordingly!