In February, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 was signed into law by President Bush. The main provision of this law is the distribution of tax rebates to millions of Americans. The rebates will start to go out in May and continue through year-end, although most of them will be sent by the end of this summer.
* If you owe federal income tax for 2007, you are eligible for a rebate.
* Those who don’t pay income tax also might get a rebate. That will be true for people who received at least $3,000 in 2007 from any combination of earned income, Social Security benefits, and certain veterans’ benefits.
The maximum rebate will be $600 for single taxpayers and $1,200 for couples filing joint returns. However, upper-income taxpayers won’t collect rebates.
Single taxpayers with adjusted gross income (AGI) of $75,000 or more in 2007 will get smaller rebates while those with AGI of $87,000 or more will get nothing. For married couples filing joint returns, the phaseout begins at $150,000 of AGI and no rebates will go to couples with over $174,000 of AGI.
In addition, there will be a $300 payment per child. Those payments will be subject to same phaseout, which is 5 percent.
