When To Expect You Rebate Check (Finally!)

The IRS released yesterday that economic stimulus checks will be mailed out beginning May 2nd and will be sent according to the last 2 digits of your Social Security number. The IRS reports that "because the IRS will use the Social Security number to determine when checks are mailed, taxpayers may receive their checks at different times than their neighbors or other family members. On a jointly filed return, the first Social Security number listed will determine the mail-out time."

As I have previously stated, rebate checks will be delivered as your refund is: direct deposit if you opted to receive your refund by direct deposit, check if you opted to receive your refund by check. If you owed or broke even, you can still opt for DD by filling out the DD part on your return, otherwise your rebate will come as a check.

Although it's great that the IRS has finally announced a time frame, the sucky part is that "taxpayers who chose direct deposit on their federal income tax returns can expect to receive their economic stimulus payments between May 2 and May 16 provided their returns were received and processed by April 15, 2008. For taxpayers who did not choose direct deposit on their tax return but whose returns were processed by April 15, paper checks will be in the mail starting May 16, with the initial mailings completed by around July 11." And for someone who filed back in February and opted for a paper check (for various paranoid reasons), this really stinks!

If you file "after April 15 and receive a refund, [you] can expect to receive [your] economic stimulus payment about two weeks after receiving [your] tax refund, but not before the date [you] would have received [your] payment if the return had been processed by April 15. To ensure taxpayers receive their stimulus payment this year, they must file a tax return by Oct. 15."

The IRS release also included a chart of when to expect your payment and a link to a rebate calculator to help you know how much to expect back. According to this chart, I won't get my rebate check until the very end of this mailing period. GREAT!

If you would like to read the full release you can access it here. Hopefully your rebate situation will shake out better than mine.

And for more coverage on the rebate see my 2008 Economic Stimulus Package or my States Tax 2008 Rebate "Tax Topics" on the right hand sidebar.