Free Money from the U.S. Treasury for Many
If you're a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, legally married to one (same or opposite sex), or a U.S. resident alien, please read on: you may be eligible to receive free money from the U.S. Treasury!
The 2020 CARES Act includes COVID-19 "Economic Impact Payments" of up to US$1,200 per adult and US$500 per child. There's an income limit to qualify for this free money, and it's based on your 2019 U.S. tax return (or 2018 tax return if you haven't filed 2019 yet). If you haven't filed U.S. tax returns for those years because you weren't required to (your income was low or zero), keep reading.
Subject to the income limits, here's who's eligible:
- U.S. citizens of any age living anywhere;
- U.S. permanent residents (green card holders) of any age living anywhere;
- U.S. resident aliens;
- Foreign spouses (same or opposite sex) of U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents living anywhere who have U.S. Social Security Numbers (SSNs)(*) and who file joint U.S. tax returns ("Married Filing Jointly") via a "Section 6013(g) Election," meaning they elected to be treated as U.S. tax residents.
If you're eligible but haven't filed a U.S. tax return recently because you weren't required to (due to limited or zero U.S. taxable income), then you can use
this online tool at IRS.gov to apply for your Economic Impact Payment without filing a tax return.
If you have filed a 2018 or 2019 U.S. tax return and are eligible for an Economic Impact Payment, then you should receive it automatically. If you included U.S. bank or U.S. credit union direct deposit account information on your tax return in order to receive a U.S. tax refund, and if that bank or credit union account is still valid, you should receive the payment via direct deposit as early as next week (second half of April, 2020). If not, then the IRS will mail you a paper check to the mailing address the IRS has on file (except for sanctioned countries). If your address has changed since you filed your U.S. tax return, or if that address is in a sanctioned country but you have a valid mailing address elsewhere, please file
IRS Form 8222 right away to notify the IRS of your new home address. It'll take substantially longer for the IRS to mail paper checks since they need to send millions, and even for the U.S. government that takes a while. You may be able to use your U.S. bank's, U.S. credit union's, or U.S. broker's smartphone application to deposit a paper U.S. Treasury check via "Mobile Check Deposit." Depositing a U.S. paper check at a non-U.S. bank is likely to be expensive and slow and is best avoided if possible.
These Economic Impact Payments are U.S. tax free, although conceivably they may be taxable in your country of residence or affect tax credits you might receive for U.S. income tax. It's possible that the U.S. Congress and President will agree on one or more additional rounds of Economic Impact Payments, so please continue paying attention to U.S. media.
For more information on COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments and related topics, please visit the IRS's Web page
here. Please make sure you're visiting IRS.gov (and via https), not some scammer's Web site. There are scattered reports of online fraud attempts involving these Economic Impact Payments.
YES, you do qualify for an Economic Impact Payment if you're otherwise eligible even if you have taken the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (IRS Form 2555) and consequently didn't owe any U.S. income tax.
YES, you do qualify for an Economic Impact Payment if you're otherwise eligible even if you're a U.S. citizen (with a Social Security Number) who hasn't lived in the United States since childhood. As a U.S. citizen you're still required to comply with U.S. tax and financial reporting laws, but with those obligations also come some privileges from time to time. The COVID-19 Economic Impact Payment is one of the privileges.
(*) Unfortunately ITINs apparently aren't good enough in this case and in the other cases.