My husband and I filed a joint tax return. I know the stimulus check for a husband and a wife is $ 2,400, and it will likely be a check.
Unfortunately, my husband died on April 12 of COVID-19, and I have not yet received our right of encouragement.
If I receive the stimulus check issued for the two of us, can I sign it and deposit the check in our bank account and then refund it to the Internal Revenue Service?
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I plan to ask the IRS to use it to help pay the cremation fees and hospital bills, which amount to $ 8,000. I am sure there are other elderly people who have the same problems as me.
(Name withheld)
It seems like you're doing the right thing: put one foot in front of the other, try to stay practical, and explore all of your options to make sure you meet those obligations. Finances are often the last thing the friends and family of bereaved people think of at a time like this.
There has been some confusion on this subject, but I don't think you can use this money for funeral expenses or hospital bills. "A payment made to a deceased person before receiving the payment must be returned to the IRS," says the agency. (You can follow these instructions.)
"Make payment in full unless payment has been made to joint taxpayers and a spouse has not died before receiving payment, in which case you just need to return the part of the payment made on behalf of the deceased. This amount will be $ 1,200 " the IRS adds
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It is a vulnerable time for people who have lost loved ones. The Federal Trade Commission implemented the Funeral Rule in 1984, giving people the right to choose only the goods and services they want or need so that family members can more easily compare prices between funeral homes.
Believe it or not, there was a change to this rule in 1994 which prohibited funeral homes from charging processing fees so that consumers are no longer charged for bringing their own caskets from an outside retailer. I can't imagine what it's like to experience this during the pandemic.
Another surprising fact: the law does not oblige a funeral home supplier to display their prices online. This can lead to an overload of people at the funeral home. In fact, only 25% of funeral homes offered prices online to consumers, according to a survey by the Funeral Consumers Alliance.
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New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Democrat introduced a bill last week with another California Democratic representative Barbara Lee to pay the federal government up to $ 10,000 in fees funeral services to family members of those who died from COVID- 19 weeks.
Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement that people should be able to bury their loved ones with dignity at a time like this: “We know that COVID-19 has a disproportionate impact on low-income communities. The least we can do is to help these families bury their loved ones, "he said.
Payments would apply to those who died after January 21, 2020. The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid for the funeral costs of previous disasters. "These families, who are disproportionately black or Latin American, are recovering from pain and economic strain," said Ocasio-Cortez.
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Meanwhile, the IRS has sent about 130 million economic impact payments and has millions more to send. Some of these stimulus checks have been mailed to successful people because these payments go to people who filed tax returns in 2019 or, as Plan B, 2018.
If payment is made in the form of a paper check, the IRS recommends that you write "void" on the back of the check approval section and mail it to the IRS. Alternatively, you can write a check or money order for $ 1,200 and write it in the United States. United States Cash. "
The agency also states that people in their position must write "2020EIP" on the note, along with the social security number or tax identification number of the recipient of the check and, if possible, include a note quick explaining the reason for the return of the check.
Please accept my sincere condolences for the loss of your husband and let me know how you are doing.
You can send an email to The Moneyist for all financial and ethical questions related to the coronavirus at [email protected] Do you want to know more?Follow Quentin Fottrell on Twitterand read more of its columns here
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