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Trump’s IRS makes it difficult for seniors to receive coronavirus $1,200 stimulus checks

by Lynda Carson (tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com)
Surprise, surprise, yesterday the IRS sent out a shocking release that states, “The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service today announced that distribution of economic impact payments will begin in the next three weeks and will be distributed automatically, with no action required for most people. However, some seniors and others who typically do not file returns will need to submit a simple tax return to receive the stimulus payment.”
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Trump’s IRS makes it difficult for seniors to receive coronavirus $1,200 stimulus checks

By Lynda Carson - March 31, 2020

The Treasury Department and IRS claim that U.S. citizens will start receiving stimulus checks/payments (a.k.a. economic impact checks) in the next three weeks because of the passage of H.R. 748, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” or the “CARES” Act (the “Act”), that was signed into law by the impeached President Donald J. Trump.

The payments are the direct result of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue package that included a $500 billion (dollar) slush fund for the wealthy super rich corporations pleading poverty as a result of the coronavirus.

Recently the major news corporations have repeatedly reported over and over again that poor senior citizens receiving Social Security payments, and persons with disabilities who are receiving SSDI or SSI payments will still receive a stimulus check of $1,200, even if they did not file any tax returns in the past few years because they are so poor.

As an example, according to ABC News, recently it reported, “Those on Social Security and SSI Disability can use their Social Security Administration data to make their claim, no tax return is needed. The U.S. Treasury Secretary expects most people to get payments within three weeks.”

According to another news site, it was reported, “Retirees who get Social Security payments will also get the money. So will recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a federal program for disabled or blind residents and those who have little or no income, according to the Senate Finance Committee.

In 2019, 64 million Americans received Social Security payments, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. About 8 million received SSI benefits.

Social Security recipients typically don’t file tax returns. But “as long as they received an SSA-1099 form (the Social Security benefit statement), the federal government will be able to send them a payment via the usual way they get their Social Security payment,” according to the Washington Post.”

Reportedly, the average social security benefit for seniors in the U.S. during 2020 is only $1,500 per month, which may not be enough to rent a studio apartment in Oakland, California.

In California, it’s reported that the average social security benefit is only $1,496.13, per month, and that the current average rent in Oakland is $2,935 per month, a 6th percent increase above the previous year.

Trump’s IRS Makes It Difficult For The Poor To Receive Coronavirus Stimulus Checks:

Surprise, surprise, yesterday the IRS sent out a shocking release that states, “The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service today announced that distribution of economic impact payments will begin in the next three weeks and will be distributed automatically, with no action required for most people. However, some seniors and others who typically do not file returns will need to submit a simple tax return to receive the stimulus payment.”

This means that poor senior citizens receiving Social Security payments that have not been filing tax returns, will not receive a $1,200 stimulus check unless they file a tax return. Their monthly payments are made by the Treasury Department which already knows where they live, and how much money they they should receive based on their past income.

So, what is the point of making them file a tax return, unless someone in the Trump administration decided to screw them, and make it harder on them to receive the $1,200 stimulus checks.

Indeed, in regards to all the poor seniors and persons with disabilities on SSI who just became confused by Trump’s IRS? If they need more information in regards to all the confusion going on at the moment because of the IRS, according to the IRS they need to keep checking with the IRS by clicking on this link; https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus , that in part states, “ Please do not call the IRS about this. When more specific details become available, we will update this page.”

It appears that if the poor persons receiving benefits from Social Security, SSDI, SSI or General Assistance in California do not have a computer to keep checking with the IRS website, that they may never get their $1,200 stimulus check or so-called impact payment, because someone in the Trump administration pulled a fast one on them.

With Congress on recess, it appears that no one is available to state why Trump’s IRS is making it difficult for poor social security recipients to receive their stimulus payment, even though Congress intended that they would not have to file a tax return to receive it.

Making matters worse, in 2017 it was reported that the budget for the IRS has been cut by 18 percent since 2010, resulting in a loss of around 13,000 employees.

Impeached President Donald J. Trump Claims That He Will Not Allow Oversight Of $500 Billion Slush Fund:

Additionally, when passed by Congress, the congressional bill known as H.R. 748, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” or the “CARES” Act (the “Act”) it was was required to have oversight, including a new Special Inspector General to manage audits and investigations in regards to how the money from the $500 billion slush fund would be spent.

This was also to make certain that the Trump family would not enrich itself by the CARES Act, or the $500 billion slush fund that Trump wanted to oversee, even though the impeached President Donald J. Trump is reportedly prohibited by law to even operate a nonprofit organization, and has bankrupted several casinos that he owned.

However, upon signing the bill on March 27, 2020, the impeached President Donald J. Trump, declared that his administration will continue the practice of treating the oversight provisions that he disagrees with as advisory and non-binding.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

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§Harder on seniors, 30 states have shelter-in-place orders
by Lynda Carson
Making it harder on seniors that will have trouble getting their $1,200 stimulus check, around 30 states have shelter-in-place orders.

Check on link below...

-Lynda Carson

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/30/coronavirus-stay-home-shelter-in-place-orders-by-state/5092413002/

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Top Democrat: Seniors should be able to receive coronavirus checks automatically

By Naomi Jagoda - 03/31/20 01:33 PM EDT

The legislative text of the coronavirus package allows the IRS, in cases where people haven't filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return, to look at their Social Security and railroad retirement benefit statements in order to provide their payments. That portion of the law was not mentioned in the IRS document Monday.

Click below for full story...

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/490399-dem-chairman-seniors-should-be-able-to-receive-coronavirus-checks

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§Call for Social Security Recipients to Get CARES Act Direct Cash Assistance
by Posted by Lynda Carson
hassan_brown_-_soc_sec_direct_assistance_payments.pdf_600_.jpg
Shaheen & Hassan Call for Social Security Recipients to Get CARES Act Direct Cash Assistance Without Having to File Tax Return

April 01, 2020

Click below...

https://tinyurl.com/tq9e4ln

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Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Posted By Lynda Carson
Steven Terner Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary - information

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/12/24/18805499.php

https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/the-secretary

https://home.treasury.gov/utility/contact

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Steven+T%2C++Mnuchin

https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-mnuchin-louise-linton-wedding-dress-trump-pence-photos-2017-6


Steven Mnuchin’s home in Washington, D.C.

https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/2600-Rock-Creek-Dr-NW-20008/home/10174286

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2019/07/22/inside-the-400-million-fortune-of-trumps-treasury-secretary-steve-mnuchin/#6c7c36a86333

One thing Mnuchin did not fully liquidate: his vast real estate portfolio. He and his wife seem to own at least six homes, including the New York City pad listed for $29.5 million. In the nearby Hamptons, there’s a $13 million spread, technically owned by an entity named Beach View LLC. The true owner appears to be Mnuchin, since the listed address for Beach View LLC is his Park Avenue apartment.

In Washington, D.C., there’s another $13 million house, which the Rock Creek Drive Revocable Trust purchased 13 days after Donald Trump took office. Mnuchin was the buyer behind the deal, according to someone familiar with the transaction.
In Hollywood, he appears to own at least two properties. First, a $31 million mansion on Bel Air Road. Local records list the owner as “Bel Air Trust.” But multiple news outlets have tied the place to Mnuchin. Second, there’s a $12 million mansion technically held by something called HMBAP LLC, an entity in which Mnuchin disclosed owning a multimillion-dollar interest. On federal filings, he listed a third entity, with Los Angeles real estate worth $1 million to $5 million, called Beverly Drive LLC. That company sold a house in Beverly Hills for $11 million in October 2017; it is unclear what exactly it owns today.

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Steven Terner Mnuchin - disclosures

https://publicintegrity.org/politics/steven-mnuchin-louise-linton-ethics-financial-disclosure/

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5762262-Steven-Mnuchin-2018-278DRAFT-2.html

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https://tinyurl.com/s6m4spd

https://extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.nsf/PAS+Index/B003D12FCD5F4C3F852580A5004FF6A4/$FILE/Mnuchin,%20Steven%20T.%20final278.pdf

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https://tinyurl.com/t4f823y

https://extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.nsf/PAS+Index/F9023A4678F44F388525817A0026F36A/$FILE/Steven-T-Mnuchin-06.07.2017-278T.pdf

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Trump's IRS backtracks and Social Security recipients will not have to file a tax return to receive an Economic Impact Payment

By Lynda Carson - April 1, 2020

After receiving much pressure from across the nation, Trump's IRS and the Treasury Department changed course and earlier this evening declared that Social Security recipients will not have to file a tax return to receive their "CARES" ACT - $1,200 stimulus check/Economic Impact Payment.

This should also apply to people with disabilities who receive SSDI (Social Security Disability Income).

However, in the press release further below, it does not state that poor people who receive state SSI disability benefits, including poor people in California who receive General Assistance, or poor folks receiving food stamps (SNAP Program) are going to receive their "CARES" ACT - $1,200 stimulus check/Economic Impact Payment automatically, without filing a tax return in advance.

Many poor people who do not have bank accounts will also have trouble receiving their $1,200 payment, in addition to people who do not have access to computers due to the closures of libraries across the nation, and the shelter-in-place orders.

According to the New York Times a few hours ago, "The Treasury reversed guidance that would have required millions of Social Security recipients to file returns, but many other low-income people will have to submit them.

In the sweeping economic recovery package that Congress passed last week, the federal government promised payments of up to $1,200 to most American adults, including those with little income or none at all.

But many of those most in need of help will face hurdles to getting the money they’ve been told is on the way.

Automatic payments are guaranteed only to those whose information is already in the computers at the Internal Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration. Everyone else must follow instructions posted by the I.R.S., which says many low-income people and others who aren’t usually required to file tax returns will need to do so if they want their payments.

Until an abrupt reversal on Wednesday night, the guidance also applied to Social Security recipients who did not submit tax returns. That had been a surprise to policy experts and advocates for seniors, because the legislation signed by President Trump gave the Treasury explicit permission to use Social Security databases — and the payment information they contain — to push payments to people automatically, without their needing to do anything else."

In a release yesterday from the Center on Budget and Priorities, in part it states, "An IRS newsletter released March 30 suggests that Social Security recipients who do not otherwise need to file a tax return may be required to file a return in order to receive the payment. Requiring seniors and people with disabilities who receive Form SSA-1099 (the annual Social Security benefit statement) to file a tax return is unnecessary. The federal government already has all of the information it needs to provide these payments without a tax return, and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides Treasury with the necessary legal authority to do so.

The drafters of the CARES Act were clearly trying to correct the mistakes of the 2008 stimulus payments. Lawmakers that year required roughly 15 million Social Security beneficiaries and veterans to file tax returns to get their stimulus payments, even though they had no other need to file a return and the federal government already had the necessary information to send them payments directly. The filing requirement created confusion and burdens for millions of people. Ultimately, about 3.5 million of these eligible people did not file and hence failed to receive payments intended for them.

The drafters of the CARES Act recognized that mistake and drafted the CARES Act stimulus payments to give Treasury the authority to provide payments automatically to Social Security beneficiaries and many others who don’t file tax returns. The Treasury and IRS should aggressively use that authority. Likely more than 15 million Social Security recipients who currently don’t file tax returns and aren’t otherwise required to do so would have to file, if Treasury doesn’t use its authority to get those people payments automatically.

The nation is in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crisis. Many senior citizens and people with disabilities will face obstacles to filing a tax return now. Social distancing means they will not have easy access to assistance in filing a tax return from government agencies, nonprofits, or for-profit preparers, and online and phone assistance will be ineffective for many — especially those who aren’t computer literate or lack computer or Internet access. Even family members now will often be unable to provide face-to-face assistance. Forcing Social Security beneficiaries to file an unnecessary return will mean some will be unable to do so, and others will face real stress and anxiety in trying to meet the requirement."

See the Treasury Department & IRS press release that came out earlier this evening below.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

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Press Releases

Social Security Recipients Will Automatically Receive Economic Impact Payments

April 1, 2020

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today announced that Social Security beneficiaries who are not typically required to file tax returns will not need to file an abbreviated tax return to receive an Economic Impact Payment. Instead, payments will be automatically deposited into their bank accounts. 
 
“Social Security recipients who are not typically required to file a tax return do not to need take an action, and will receive their payment directly to their bank account,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. 
 
The IRS will use the information on the Form SSA-1099 and Form RRB-1099 to generate $1,200 Economic Impact Payments to Social Security recipients who did not file tax returns in 2018 or 2019. Recipients will receive these payments as a direct deposit or by paper check, just as they would normally receive their benefits.
 
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm967

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