Just a Few Things
This is my stimulus update for Sunday, April 12 — pretty light today as you would imagine.
If you’d rather watch than read, check out the YouTube version here!
1. Let’s Talk About Chime
Let’s kick it off by talking about that whole Chime thing I mentioned yesterday.
Some comments on yesterday’s stimulus update video were a bit negative about Chime advancing some people’s stimulus.
I don’t know why. Some of y’all were like, “People only got an advance, not the actual stimulus,” with various degrees of capitalization and exclamation points.
For all practical purposes, these people have received their stimulus money, and we should be happy for them that they now have this money that will get them through this difficult time.
They now have $1,200 or $1,700 or $2,400 or $3,900 they did not have previously, so I’m not sure why some people choose to be salty about this.
Let’s be happy for them.
And I saw this on another video — some guy commented, “No one got stimulus money. They got an advance from their third-rate bank.”
What? What is third-rate about what Chime did for their customers?
I don’t get it.
I think this is a great thing because I want to see people get this money.
That’s why I’m making these updates and the videos on my YouTube channel everyday, and I’m ecstatic to know that some people are getting it now.
2. Update for New Social Security Beneficiaries
Now, you’ve all heard that Social Security recipients, Railroad Retirement benefits recipients, and SSDI recipients do not need to file a simple tax return to get the $1,200 — this has been the case since April 1 — and you’d better believe that I made a video right then and there when that was announced.
Now, there is an exception to this general rule that Social Security Administration Commissioner Andrew Marshall Saul wrote about in a blog post this week.
He said, and I quote: “Any new beneficiaries since January 1, 2020, of either Social Security or SSI benefits, who did not file a tax return for 2018 or 2019, will also need to use the IRS portal that I walked through on Friday.”
So, if you just became a Social Security beneficiary in 2020 — that is, you were not on Social Security in 2019 or before and have therefore never received Form SSA-1099, which is what the IRS is using for Social Security beneficiaries — and if you did not file a 2018 or 2019 tax return, you need to use the IRS portal for non-filers that was released yesterday.
If you have been on Social Security before 2020, which that means you’ve received Form SSA-1099, you don’t need to take further action to get your $1,200.
But if you’re a new Social Security beneficiary in 2020 and didn’t file a tax return in 2018 or 2019, use that IRS portal.
3. Get My Payment Clarification
At this point, it is clear that you can use the forthcoming Get My Payment tool to give the IRS your direct deposit information if they have no direct deposit information for you, that is, if there was no direct deposit information on your 2018 or 2019 tax return, and obviously if they haven’t yet sent your payment.
What is not clear is if there was direct deposit information on your 2018 or 2019 tax return, if you will be able to “update” your direct deposit information with the IRS.
A Treasury press release on the matter says, “Get My Payment cannot update bank account information after an Economic Impact Payment has been scheduled for delivery” — got it, good, clear as a bell — “To help protect against potential fraud, the tool also does not allow people to change bank account information already on file with the IRS.”
This is confusing. Does that list bit there only apply after an Economic Impact Payment has been made or in all circumstances?
4. Tacos
Someone asked on Reddit in the Taco Bell subreddit, “How many tacos can I get with my $1200 stimulus check?”
Answer: 952, so about, $1.25 per taco — not bad.
