$250 stimulus and retiree payment

[michaelmars]

The IRS developed the “Did I Receive an Economic Recovery Payment?” look up tool which gives taxpayers an easy way to determine if they received the one-time ERP payment and which agency made the payment.

Beginning March 8, 2010, taxpayers can call 866-234-2942 to access the phone application. The Web application will be available in late March on IRS.gov.

Taxpayers who had earned income in 2009 or are government retirees and received an Economic Recovery Payment need to report whether or not they received an ERP and the amount when they prepare their Schedule M, Making Work Pay and Government Retiree Credits.

The one time $250 ERP was paid to individuals in the following categories:

• Retirees, disabled individuals and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration,

• Disabled veterans receiving benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and

• Railroad Retirement beneficiaries.

Using the IRS look up tool taxpayers will have to enter three pieces of information to determine if they received an ERP:

• SSN

• Date of birth

• Zip code from the last filed return

A separate telephone call or Web inquiry must be made for each taxpayer, even if filing a joint tax return.

[JRS]

"The Web application will be available in late March on IRS.gov." Right!

[Margaret CPA in OH]

We're talking 'timely' don't you know? Who could possibly have guessed that such information would be needed before then? Not our IRS! Everyone knows that every taxpayer is intimately familiar with all income of every type... well at least all the deductions, anyway.