An estimated 175 million Americans will getstimulus checkswith the first payments going out this week or next, according to Larry Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council.
The payments, worth up to $1,200 plus additional $500 per child, are intended to help Americans financially weather job loss, reduced work hours, and other money challenges as large swaths of the country are shut down to curb the coronavirus outbreak.
"The checks from the Treasury and the IRS [will] probably start going out, I think this week, perhaps early next," Kudlow told CNBC.
Kudlow also said glitches that small business have experienced when applying for the relief program will get worked out and told CNBC that the government is supporting the economy by, "liquidity, cash rescue, try to keep the labor force connected to the actual businesses."
While many Americans will start receiving their checks soon, it may take months for others. This depends on what banking information the Internal Revenue Service has on file and other factors. Here's what you need to know about the checks.
White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow talks to reporters at the White House, Monday, April 6, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
When will the stimulus check arrive? It depends.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a White House briefing last Thursday, that those Americans who have signed up for direct deposit will receive their payment within two weeks.
"Social Security, you'll get it very quickly after that," Mnuchin said. "If we don’t have your information, you'll have a simple web portal, you'll upload it. If we don't have that, we'll send you checks in the mail."
The payments will be deposited directly into your bank account if you received your last tax refund or expect to receive this year's refund that way. You'll also be able to provide your banking details online once a portal is set up, according to the IRS.
Otherwise, checks will be mailed, which could take longer to get to Americans. Adding to the complications, about 6% of U.S. adults — or 12 about 12 million Americans — do not have a checking, savings, or other bank account, according to a 2018 Federal Reserve report.
A worker sorts through newly-printed stimulus checks at the San Francisco Regional Financial Center in Emeryville, Calif., Thursday, May 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
The New York Times, citing IRS guidelines that detail how Americans who aren't usually required to file tax returns will need to do so to receive payments, noted the guidance "will almost certainly mean longer waits for those who must file new returns to be eligible to receive a stimulus payment."
Americans with the lowest income will get mailed checks first, according to reporting by the Washington Post. Here's the timetable for the first checks, per IRS documents seen by the Post:
Taxpayers with income up to $10,000: April 24
Taxpayers with income up to $20,000: May 1
Taxpayers with income up to $40,000: May 15
The rest of the checks will be issued by gradually increasing income increments each week. Households earning $198,000 who file jointly will get their reduced checks on Sept. 4. The last group of checks will be sent on Sept. 11 to those who don't have tax information on file and had to apply for checks, according to the Washington Post.
Who gets a stimulus check?
Your eligibility is based on your most recent tax return and your adjusted gross income. If you already filed your 2019 taxes, your eligibility will be based on that. If not, the Internal Revenue Service will use your 2018 taxes to determine if you qualify.
The benefit is available not only to those who have filed taxes, but also to those who receive Social Security benefits as long as they’ve received their SSA-1099 or RB-1099 forms.
U.S Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral, right, thanks workers at the San Francisco Regional Financial Center for their efforts in the printing of stimulus check in Emeryville, Calif., Thursday, May 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Single adults with income up to $75,000 will get a $1,200 payment. Married couples with income up to $150,000 will get $2,400. Single parents who file as head of household with income up to $112,500 will get the full $1,200 check.
Additionally, Americans who qualify for the stimulus payment and have children will get an additional $500 per child under 17.
Reduced checks will be available for single adults who earn between $75,001 and $99,000 and married couples who earn between $150,001 and $198,000. The check will be reduced by $5 for every $100 over $75,000 for single adults and $150,000 for married couples.
Who doesn't get a check?
Single adults who make more than $99,000 and married couples who earn more than $198,000 won’t receive stimulus checks.
Those without a Social Security number and nonresident aliens — those who aren't a U.S. citizen or U.S. national and don't have a green card or have not passed the substantial presence test — aren't eligible.
You're also ineligible if your parents claim you as a dependent on their taxes.
How will the government send you the stimulus check?
The IRS will use the direct deposit information you provided from the taxes you've filed either for 2019 or for 2018.
If you have no direct deposit information on file or if the account provided is now closed, the IRS will mail you a check, instead.
Stimulus payments roll off printing presses at the San Francisco Regional Financial Center in Emeryville, Calif., Thursday, May 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
If the IRS doesn’t have your direct deposit information
If you didn't include your direct deposit information when filing your taxes or if you receive your Social Security payments by mail, you may be able to do this before checks are sent out.
The Treasury plans to create a web-based portal for individuals to provide their banking details online, according to the IRS. That will help Americans get payments faster rather than waiting for a check in the mail, according to the IRS.
Do you have to pay back the stimulus check?
No. The stimulus payment is actually a refundable credit against your 2020 tax liability, according to Kyle Pomerleau of the American Enterprise, and is paid out as an advanced refund. That means you don't have to wait to file your 2020 taxes to get the money.
It also doesn’t reduce any refund you would otherwise receive, Watson said.
In fact, if you don’t qualify for the stimulus check now based on your 2018 or 2019 tax returns, you may be able to qualify to take the tax credit next year when you file your 2020 taxes if your income meets the thresholds.
Denitsa is a writer for Yahoo Finance and Cashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter @denitsa_tsekova.
Former Nigeria Managing Director Guinness Nigeria, Plc, Keith Richards has revealed the present location of Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, Kyari is presently in a hospital in St John’s Wood, London, receiving treatment.
St John’s Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, West London.
The hospital according to Richards is the same hospital President Muhammadu Buhari visited when he was in UK some few weeks back.
Richards, who claimed his friend saw Kyari when he was brought into the hospital, said a former External Affairs Minister, Baba Gana Kingkibe had already visited Kyari in the hospital.
Kyari, who had recently tested positive for Coronavirus, was said to have been flown to Lagos State for treatment.
However, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, had on Tuesday said he did not know the whereabouts of Kyari, contrary to reports that the CoS is at the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) Isolation Center in the State.
But reports had emerged on Thursday that Kyari was dead. That report has been denied.
Richards has , however come out to disclose that Kyari had secretly left the shores of Nigeria seeking treatment for Coronavirus, otherwise called COVID-19 abroad.
In a tweet, Richards said : I was told this evening that Abba Kyari is in a hospital in St John’s Wood. He was visited by Kingkibe and it is the same hospital the PMB was in just a few weeks ago. My source saw him personally.
Richards, a Briton, first visited Nigeria in 1982. He joined Guinness Group in 1998 and Guinness Africa in 1993 where he served as the regional director; managing director, Kibo Breweries Limited, Tanzania; director of Jos International Breweries Plc and Guinness Ghana limited.
He later came back to Nigeria to work for John Holt in 1999/2000 from where he moved to International Equitable Association, Aba, as the managing director. The Sussex University product sat as the head of one of Nigeria’s most buoyant company for over three years, until July 1 2005.
Months after the main instance of the dangerous Coronavirus was accounted for in China , another emergency looms.
The National Forestry and Grassland Administration, experts in China need to deal with how to stop or forestall desert grasshopper into the nation.
As indicated by the body, specialists cautioned that insects in neighboring Pakistan and India represent a colossal risk to China and that an intrusion is unavoidable in the long periods of June and July.
Should the grasshoppers attack china, the farming area would be exceptionally influenced subsequently prompting incredible destroying impacts which would have a negative effect on the nation's economy.
The Forestry Administration expressed that there have been sporadic invasions by the insects in the western pieces of china.
Notwithstanding, they include that throughout the entire existence of china, there has never been an extreme impact by bothers in the nation, and in history no significant farmland devastation by bugs in the Asian country.
Nigeria has recorded another six new cases of Coronavirus, bringing the total national figures to 238, with Kwara State joining the league.
According to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, on its twitter handle, the six new cases were recorded in Kwara, Edo, Rivers and Federal Capital Territory.
“Six new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Nigeria: 2 in Kwara, 2 in Edo, 1 in Rivers and 1 in the FCT.
“As at 09:30 pm 6th April there are 238 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Nigeria. Thirty-five have been dischargedwith five deaths,” it said.
JUST IN: No Nigerian Is Hungry, We Have Distributed 100 Billion Naira To Them says Lai Muhammad.
The minister of information in the federal republic of Nigeria , Lai Mohammed has responded to Nigerians complaining of hunger in Facebook, tweeter , Instagram , television stations and radio stations due to the Lockdown that , the federal government has disbursed over 100 billion Naira to poor Nigerians and vulnerable persons affected by the Lock down all over the country .
He further stressed that , most poor people all over the country have received the money .
However , Nigerians have been calling federal government of Nigeria in social media , radio , television station over failure provide food , electricity , for them in the midst of Lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease.
Lets remind us about Corona Virus, it is a disease that's ravaging the country and indeed the entire world. A virus that has been declared by all health authorities as a pandemic disease is a cause for concern. COVID-19 has grown from the Virus to an epidemic and worst of it, pandemic.
COVID-19 has a scary mortality rate, maybe not in all countries, but at least in substantial number of countries. The virus can be asymptomatic, thereby reducing the chances of survival when eventually discovered, the situation is worsen by the fact that anybody and indeed everybody can be a carrier, it is more worsen by the fact that a proven cure has not been found for it.
Residents of Ashaiman have discounted claims that a truck pusher who was killed on Sunday tried to disarm a military officer.
Eric Ofotsu was allegedly killed by a soldier who was part of a combined military and police team detailed at Ashaiman to enforce a lockdown order by President Akufo-Addo to curtail the coronavirus outbreak.
The military hierarchy said in a statement that: “Initial reports are that the suspect in resisting arrest attempted to disarm the soldier leading to a struggle during which the soldier’s rifle accidentally went off”.
According to the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the deceased was suspected of being involved in narcotics.
However, eyewitness accounts suggest a different story. Two women who observed what happened toldJoyNewsthat the military command’s release contained inaccuracies.
Ofosuwaa, a family friend of the deceased, said she went to escort a friend that Sunday. On her return, she ran into the soldier at the market who questioned why she was outside.
She said her response to him was that she was going to the washroom.
“When I came out, I saw him (soldier) telling Ofotsu to leave the area, but Ofotsu told him (soldier) that he lives at the market,” Ofosuwaa recounted. “I told the soldier that Ofotsu was mentally challenged and he sleeps and works at the market by transporting goods and engaging in menial jobs”.
She said Ofotsu had desilted the gutters the previous day, and the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly had not even paid him.
“All of us around told the soldier he had a mental problem,” but she and alleged that the serviceman ignored.
Ofosuwaa said she saw the soldier make a call and someone at the other end of the line instructed him to kill Ofotsu.
After the call, “He cocked his gun, and we all took cover, but before we realised he had shot him (Ofotsu)”.
“I ran and held my ‘brother’, and I started calling neighbours for help,” she said in tears.
“If they said Ofotsu held on to the soldier’s gun, it is a lie. He never tried to disarm the soldier. The soldier didn’t try,” she concluded.
Another eyewitness, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she was sitting in front of a cold store when she heard “exchange of words” between Ofotsu and the soldier.
“The soldier hit the deceased with a stick. The deceased got angry, and he collected the stick from the soldier and dropped it.
“After the initial altercation, Ofotsu and the soldier went separate ways, and the military man made a call to an unknown person. The soldier returned. But those of us around thought he wanted to hit Ofotsu again, she recalled.
“But what we saw was that he cocked his gun. I thought he was going to give a warning shot. However, he rather pointed the gun at the throat of the victim. He shot without hesitation,” the agitated woman said. “The bullet went through the back of his head. He (soldier) just took a tissue, picked the pellets and placed it in a polythene bag. All he said was, ‘I am sorry’”.
“The sight of the killing and the blood made me urinate, and I thought I would have a miscarriage. One woman even defecated instantly,” she continued.
According to her, the conduct of the soldier was terrible because security had been stationed in Ashaiman for protection and not the murder of unarmed, innocent civilians.
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashaiman Constituency, Ernest Henry Norgbey, has vowed to seek justice for the resident who was allegedly shot and killed “accidentally”.
An investigation has commenced into the incident. The Ghana Armed Forces have assured the general public that “details of its investigations will be duly communicated”.
