An IRS letter worth waiting for

Posted Feb 29th 2008 11:16AM by Michael Fowlkes
Filed under: Other Issues, Good news, Consumer Experience, Personal Finance, Politics, Recession

Typically, seeing an envelope with the letters "IRS" on it in your mailbox could be a cause for concern, but over the next week some 130 million homes in America will be receiving letters in the mail bringing good news from the Internal Revenue Service.

As you are probably already aware, in its attempt to keep the economy afloat, the US government passed a $168 billion economic stimulus plan, and as a result millions of households across the nation are going to be receiving a little extra cash this year from the US government.

Just to make sure that everyone knows what they can expect, the IRS is mailing over 100 million letters next week to make certain that everyone who may be eligible files their 2007 taxes so that they don't miss the chance to claim their stimulus payments.

The stimulus package should provide a pretty nice one-time cash infusion to households that could use a little help right about now. Just how much might you be entitled to? Individuals may be eligible for a $600 payment, and $1,200 for those of you who are married and filing jointly. But the catch is, you have to file your 2007 tax return.

Be careful not to confuse these payments with a normal tax refund. The stimulus payments are separate from any tax refund, and will be mailed out separately.

So when you open your mailbox next week and see that letter from the IRS, don't cringe, you aren't being audited, just some friendly advice on what you need to do to assure you get the extra money that is coming your way!

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Tags: IRS, politics, stimulus plan, StimulusPlan, taxes