Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Is the government treating the tax rebate like a refund?

My roommate owes back taxes is wondering if the govt will take some or all of her rebate. We've searched around and there does not seem to be a clear answer to this because it was not clarified by the government.


I remember reading somewhere that they do take back taxes out of it, but I cant find it now!! My friend owed back taxes and they reduced her stimulus check from $600 to $200. Take a look around the IRS website.

From the IRS WEB SITE

Q. I'm eligible for a payment but I still owe federal income tax from a prior year. Will my payment be reduced?

A. Yes. For this purpose, the stimulus payment is treated like any other tax refund. This means that part or all of your payment can be used to pay past-due federal or state income taxes or non-tax federal debt such as student loans and child support.

For offset purposes, yes they are. It's clearly stated on irs.gov, but there is so much info there that it can be hard to find what you are looking for.

See http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=182003,00.html about 2/3 of the way down

Yes, if you owe taxes, you will not get the rebate.

For more articles on your U.S. tax return, http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/04/list-of-articles.html

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