Watching Sitcoms

I need money, cause I’ve been off work so long. Well, maybe “need” is a strong word, but I want it. Then my sister tells me that she has direct deposit with the IRS, so she got her tax rebate check like two weeks ago. Apparently, if you trust the government with your bank account information, they reward you. I don’t trust the government, so I had to do some investigating to see when we’ll get ours. As it turns out, not soon enough.

The IRS site advises that the “economic stimulus payments” will be issued according to the last two-digits of the main filer’s Social Security number. For joint filers, the payments will go out based on the person listed first on the return. Payments will be made by either direct deposit or paper check, consistent with how people filed their 2007 tax return.

So here’s the schedule for DIRECT DEPOSIT:
Last two SSN digits: Payments will be transmitted
no later than (and received by
the end of the day of):
00 through 20 May 2
21 through 75 May 9
76 through 99 May 16

Which means, of course, that all those trusting people have already received and, possibly, spent their check. If you are like me, though, you are still waiting. Paper checks will also go out according to the last two-digits of the main filer’s Social Security number. But they didn’t even start to go out until all the direct deposit people had money. Why not, I wonder?

Anyway, here is the schedule for the PAPER CHECKS:

Last two SSN digits: Payments will be mailed
no later than (and received
a few days after):
00 through 09 May 16
10 through 18 May 23
19 through 25 May 30
26 through 38 June 6
39 through 51 June 13
52 through 63 June 20
64 through 75 June 27
76 through 87 July 4
88 through 99 July 11

You then need to allow some extra time for actual mail delivery, they say 3 to 5 days, but with our mail, it could be two weeks.

There was also some other info about people who didn’t file their 2007 taxes on time, and other reasons why you might not get your check according to the schedule. If you’re interested, you find it all at IRS.gov.

All I know is, I gotta wait at least another month to get my money. *sigh*