Coronavirus stimulus checks: Second round may be passed by end of July, Mnuchin says

[james.hendrickson]

Main point: second stimulus looking increasingly likely.
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Coronavirus stimulus checks: Second round may be passed by end of July, Mnuchin says

Denitsa Tsekova,
Yahoo Money
July 9, 2020

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday hinted that a second round of stimulus checks could be part of the government’s next round of coronavirus relief that he expects to be passed by the end of the month.

“We do support another round of economic impact payments,” Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC. “As soon as the Senate gets back, we’re going to sit down on a bipartisan basis with the Republicans and the Democrats and it will be our priority that between the 20th and the end of the month, we’re going to pass the next legislation.”

Mnuchin's comments come after President Trump last week expressed support for more direct payments to individuals, followed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who said on Monday that he supported checks targeted towards low-income families.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin answers questions during a television interview at the White House July 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“I think the people who have been hit the hardest are people who make about $40,000 a year or less, many of them work in the hospitality industry,” McConnell said. “The hospitality industry, as all of you know, just got rim-racked — hotels, restaurants — and so that could well be a part of it."

Mnuchin said on Thursday he had a “very productive call” with McConnell, but didn’t specify if the next round of stimulus will have a lower income eligibility threshold.

“I’m not going to go into the specific details,” Mnuchin said. “The level and the criteria, we’ll be discussing with the Senate.”

Under the CARES Act enacted in March, the government sent $270 billion in stimulus checks as of May 31 to over 160 million Americans.

Single adults with income up to $75,000 were eligible for the full check, while reduced checks were available for single adults who earned between $75,001 and $99,000. Married couples with income up to $150,000 got $2,400, while those earning between $150,001 and $198,000 received reduced checks. Parents of children under 17 received an additional $500 per child.

President Trump last week weighed in on the scope and size of another wave of direct payments. He indicated his support for another round of direct payments to Americans when asked by Fox Business News.

“I do. I support it, but it has to be done properly,” he said then. “And I support actually larger numbers than the Democrats.”

Denitsa is a writer for Yahoo Finance and Cashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter @denitsa_tsekova.

Article source.

[Smallsteps]

After seeing the mess of how the first one rolled out I think they should wait.
This is a big mess people SHOULD care about that the IRS records did not account for dead people. I really think MOST government databases are a mess. That also created errors in sending out the PPP, where is the verification even common sense ..... I see that most people are so outraged when in ANY programs there is fraud and abuse,,,,,,,,,,,,but nothing is done to remedy.
Honestly there were thousands of dead people getting a payment and I think we should have an account to how much is returned........
There are STILL people who did not get any stimulus even though they met the criteria.
The government from states to federal make a mess when they try to hurry these items.
Many states in an effort to speed up unemployment created a massive problem with fraud that may be a problem for years.
Many unemployed in my state STILL do not have checks after months of chaos ....after the governor made a horrible decision to skip verification on unemployment claims.

[james.hendrickson]

After seeing the mess of how the first one rolled out I think they should wait.
This is a big mess people SHOULD care about that the IRS records did not account for dead people. I really think MOST government databases are a mess. That also created errors in sending out the PPP, where is the verification even common sense ..... I see that most people are so outraged when in ANY programs there is fraud and abuse,,,,,,,,,,,,but nothing is done to remedy.
Honestly there were thousands of dead people getting a payment and I think we should have an account to how much is returned........
There are STILL people who did not get any stimulus even though they met the criteria.
The government from states to federal make a mess when they try to hurry these items.

Many states in an effort to speed up unemployment created a massive problem with fraud that may be a problem for years.
Many unemployed in my state STILL do not have checks after months of chaos ....after the governor made a horrible decision to skip verification on unemployment claims.

Small steps - well the economic news doesn't look too bad, but with 40 million unemployed in the country, there may be a tremendous amount of pressure for another stimulus.

And yes, you're right. Fraud is a problem.

[disneysteve]

After seeing the mess of how the first one rolled out I think they should wait.
This is a big mess people SHOULD care about that the IRS records did not account for dead people.

I honestly have mixed feelings on this. Yes, it would be great if the system was perfect, but nothing in life is perfect. That doesn't make the mistakes okay or acceptable and they should definitely work on improving the system to reduce the chances of mistakes in the future.

But when you look at this in context, they sent out $269 billion in stimulus checks. The GAO says that close to $1.4 billion was sent to deceased recipients (folks who had died between when they filed their returns and when the checks went out). That means the checks were sent with 99.5% accuracy. I wish every government program operated at a 99.5% accuracy rate. That would be amazing.

[Petunia 100]

It's not that IRS records just don't account for dead people, it's that some people have died since they filed their last tax return. There's nothing fraudulent or abusive about that.

[disneysteve]

It's not that IRS records just don't account for dead people, it's that some people have died since they filed their last tax return.

Well actually it isn't an IRS issue at all. Stimulus checks didn't come from the IRS.

The IRS does have access to the Social Security Administration's death records.

The Treasury Department, which actually issues the payments, does not.

[kork13]

Even if stimulus checks were sent incorrectly to dead folks, it'll (mostly) come out in the wash next April's tax season. Keep in mind that the 'stimulus' was officially a tax credit for the 2020 tax year, and was distributed ahead of anyone filing for their 2020 taxes. Net result will be that when people file their 2020 taxes (or a deceased person's estate), any errors such as issuing a credit to someone ineligible to receive it (dead, income, etc.) will result in them owing the credit back to the government. Sly devils, aren't they?

[Smallsteps]

Well actually it isn't an IRS issue at all. Stimulus checks didn't come from the IRS.

The IRS does have access to the Social Security Administration's death records.

The Treasury Department, which actually issues the payments, does not.

Seems if different systems ran a check of other departments systems.
Some fraud could be avoided and I just mentioned the dead people getting money even though there were other issues with this the dead person that I knew that got one has been dead for TWO years so I doubt the governments data or accuracy. Perhaps it was just that tiny problem of id theft for those not suppose to be working in this country.

[disneysteve]

the dead person that I knew that got one has been dead for TWO years

Okay. Wasn't the stimulus payment based on either your 2018 or 2019 return? If they died 2 years ago, that would have been 2018, so there was at least a 2018 return filed for that person. And there may also have been a 2019 return filed for the estate if everything wasn't wrapped up in 2018. It's not unusual for it to take some time for an estate to get settled. So by Treasury department records, they would have qualified for a payment.

As kork points out, the stimulus payment is a tax credit for 2020 so when those estates file their 2020 returns, that will correct the problem in most cases.

[Petunia 100]

Well actually it isn't an IRS issue at all. Stimulus checks didn't come from the IRS.

The IRS does have access to the Social Security Administration's death records.

The Treasury Department, which actually issues the payments, does not.

The stimulus checks were issued based on people's most recently filed income tax returns. If more in depth checking had been done, the payments would not have gone out so quickly.

[Petunia 100]

Even if stimulus checks were sent incorrectly to dead folks, it'll (mostly) come out in the wash next April's tax season. Keep in mind that the 'stimulus' was officially a tax credit for the 2020 tax year, and was distributed ahead of anyone filing for their 2020 taxes. Net result will be that when people file their 2020 taxes (or a deceased person's estate), any errors such as issuing a credit to someone ineligible to receive it (dead, income, etc.) will result in them owing the credit back to the government. Sly devils, aren't they?

Not according to the law. The CARES Act specifically says that any overpayment need not be repaid.

[Petunia 100]

Seems if different systems ran a check of other departments systems.
Some fraud could be avoided and I just mentioned the dead people getting money even though there were other issues with this the dead person that I knew that got one has been dead for TWO years so I doubt the governments data or accuracy. Perhaps it was just that tiny problem of id theft for those not suppose to be working in this country.

Oh, you mean the super-computer which instantaneously knows everything about everyone? Yeah, that does not exist. It actually takes time to process new information. And the more accurate you want it, the longer it takes and the more it costs.

[kork13]

Not according to the law. The CARES Act specifically says that any overpayment need not be repaid.

Interesting... If that's true, it seems that would invite fraud. Strange...

[bjl584]

I guess we'll see.
Whether or not it's a good idea can be debated.
But, if I get one I'll be cashing the check

[ua_guy]

Oh, you mean the super-computer which instantaneously knows everything about everyone? Yeah, that does not exist. It actually takes time to process new information. And the more accurate you want it, the longer it takes and the more it costs.

Sorry, coming from a technical background, this just isn't a hard problem to solve. They could have done a query against the SSDI and removed the recipients who were found to be deceased. Even if someone were incorrectly flagged as deceased, there is already an appeal process for those who did not receive checks. The whole process may have taken another couple days; certainly less time it took than any political bantering it took to actually agree on the first bill.

The faith this could have restored in government process would have paid off immensely. Let's hope they include someone with a brain in the next round of issuing payments.