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$$$ McConnell’s Helicopter Money

How Much Will You Get ???

Right now, this is only a proposal, but if legislated in its present form, there would be a single payment of $1,200 for each adult plus $500 for each child for:

  • Individual taxpayers whose adjusted gross income (AGI) on their 2018 tax return was $75,000 or less;
  • Joint filers whose AGI in 2018 was $150,000 or less;

But,

  • These amounts would be halved for taxpayers with at least $2,500 of “qualifying income but little or no tax liability”;
  • Would be reduced by $5 for each $100 of income over $75,000 for individuals with AGIs between $75,001 and $99,000; and
  • Individuals whose 2018 AGI was over $99,000 and joint filers with AGI over $198,000 would be ineligible.

Eligibility for, and amount of, these stimulus payments also appear to be tied to your tax liability. CNBC reported, “If your tax bill [was] below $600 as an individual, you get $600. If your tax liability [was] above $1,200, it would be capped at $1,200. Those amounts would be doubled for married couples.” (Read about that here.)

This implies that persons whose only income in 2018 was Social Security or disability benefits won’t qualify, but NBC News says that’s an “unanswered question.” That might be the case, as the scheme is primarily aimed at helping people whose income has been adversely affected by the coronavirus, and those individuals’ income would be unaffected.

There’s no firm payment date until legislation is passed, of course, but the Treasury Department proposed breaking it into two payments on April 6 and May 18; however, the Senate GOP plan proposes delivering the cash in a single payment (no date specified). It’s unclear whether a claim would have to be submitted or how the payments would be distributed.

An interesting and unanswered question is whether this would be taxed income on your 2020 return. Since the intent is to get it into the economy, i.e. encourage consumer spending, it should be tax-exempt. But there’s no information on that.

Read the NBC News stories here and here.


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