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Most stimulus checks already have been mailed
The IRS has issued 76.5 million payments worth $63.8 billion based on 2007 tax returns processed so far. The agency expects to issue 124 million payments to Americans by year's end.
"The IRS has delivered,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said.
The agency has accounted for 74 percent of Social Security and Veterans Affairs beneficiaries out of about 20 million initially identified as being potential stimulus recipients. All but 5.2 million of those have been accounted for as either having filed a return, having filed a joint return, or as not being eligible for a stimulus payment.
The tax agency generally got high marks National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson on its performance in getting payments into taxpayer hands.
Olson, an independent watchdog appointed by the Treasury secretary, said there were some problems associated with the payments, including difficulties in staffing telephone lines dedicated to answering questions about taxes and the rebate. She said there was one glitch where the Social Security numbers of about 1,500 taxpayers were mistakenly disclosed when the IRS routed payments to the wrong back accounts.
About 80,000 Oklahoma retirees and disabled veterans entitled to economic stimulus payments have less than four months to file income tax returns to claim their money, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.
"The money is there for the asking, but people do have to ask by merely filing a 2007 federal income tax return,” said IRS spokesman David Stell in Oklahoma City. "Many potential recipients need only file a simplified version of that tax return to get the stimulus payments on the way to them. But to get a payment this year, a tax return must be filed by October 15.”
Oklahoma City ranks 39th among cities in the number of residents the agency believes are owed payments; Tulsa ranks 52nd. The IRS derived the numbers from data supplied by the Social Security Administration and Veterans Affairs, Stell said.
Margo Mitchell, president of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Oklahoma in Tulsa, said some potential recipients who haven't filed a tax return for years may be intimidated by the process.
Although the abbreviated process of qualifying for the payments is relatively simple, "filing your taxes always sounds kind of frightening,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell, who said her nonprofit firm is counseling more budget-squeezed seniors than ever before, was concerned that some potential recipients who need the cash might "leave money on the table.”
As part of the economic stimulus package approved earlier this year by Congress, eligible individuals can receive up to $600, and married couples $1,200, plus $300 for eligible children younger than 17. For people such as retirees who have no tax liability or filing requirement, there is a minimum payment of $300, or $600 for married couples.
Even if the 80,000 potential Oklahoma recipients were due only the minimum $300 payment, the total would be $24 million.
Some of the potential recipients probably have filed automatic extensions and plan to file by the Oct. 15 deadline, Stell said. Others may not want the government money, Stell said. However, agency officials assume the vast majority want their payments.
The IRS has sent letters to potential recipients and worked with state and local officials and groups such as AARP to let retirees and veterans know that they must file returns to get a check and that those checks will have no impact on other federal benefits they currently receive.
IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said the agency would mail another packet of information and launch a public relations campaign aimed at areas of the country where nonfiling has been greatest.
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