Who wants a rebate?
Source: Providence Journal
March 19, 2008
When Maria Garcia brought her mother to Pawtucket’s senior center yesterday, she had one thing in mind — the new federal rebate program.
She said she wanted to find out whether her mother, Josefa Rivera, 77, of Central Falls, would be eligible for a payment under the program.
Garcia, 57, of Pawtucket, also wanted to know whether she, too, would be receiving a rebate. “I wasn’t sure,” Garcia said in an interview at the center. “All the people say different stuff.”
So she and her mother visited the center yesterday to find out.
They are among thousands of Rhode Islanders for whom special rebate-program rules apply. And that is why Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse scheduled an informational meeting at the center yesterday.
It was the first in a series of such sessions that Whitehouse is holding throughout the state. The idea is to help people learn more about the rebate program’s rules, make sure they take advantage and help them apply, he said.
The rebates are the result of legislation which was hurriedly prepared and approved by Congress, then signed by President Bush last month, in an attempt to stimulate the nation’s slumping economy.
The original version of the legislation generally would have made the rebates available only to those who paid federal income taxes and filed a federal income-tax return each year.
But because of a change backed by Whitehouse and others, the final version of the legislation extends rebates to millions of low-income people who do not ordinarily file returns — including retirees and others whose main or sole source of income is Social Security or veterans benefits.
While the change will benefit millions of seniors, it has also left some of them puzzled over the rebate program’s eligibility rules, said Jean Crawley, director of the center (which is formally known as the Leon Mathieu Senior Center).
“There is still confusion about the rebates,” Crawley said in an interview at the center, on Main Street. Part of the problem, she said, involves two key hurdles that low-income people must clear: They generally must have had at least $3,000 in “qualifying income” last year, and they must file what amounts to an information return this year.
Social Security retirement benefits count as qualifying income, Whitehouse said. So do Social Security disability benefits and Social Security survivor benefits (such as widow’s or widower’s benefits).
Thus, “If you get a Social Security check, you’re virtually certain to qualify” for a rebate, he said.
But benefits through another government program with a somewhat similar name — Supplemental Security Income (SSI) — do not count.
Garcia yesterday learned how these rules will apply to her family. Her mother’s main source of income is from SSI benefits, and because she does not have enough income from other sources, she will not qualify for a rebate, Garcia said.
But Garcia receives Social Security disability benefits — which do count as qualifying income — so she will be eligible, she found out, and should receive a $300 rebate. “That’s good enough,” she said.
Doris Poulin, 45, and her father, Aldore Poulin, 76, both of Pawtucket, learned yesterday that they, too, will be receiving rebates. Doris Poulin said her rebate amount should be enough to cover grocery bills “for a month.”
Those who visited the center yesterday not only heard Whitehouse and others discuss the rebate program’s rules, but also received free assistance in preparing their returns.
In one room, Michael Kinsley and Holly Longley, both senior tax consultants with the IRS, sat before a table piled with paperwork, helping people fill out and file their returns. Elsewhere in the center, volunteers from the AARP Tax-Aide program helped others prepare returns.
Under the overall rebate program rules, payments will range from $300 to $600 for someone who is single, or from $600 to $1,200 for a married couple filing a joint return. (Parents also may be eligible for an additional rebate amount of up to $300 for each of their children who was under age 17 as of Dec. 31, 2007.)
Altogether, the U.S. Treasury plans to issue about $107 billion in rebates this year to about 130 million households, according to U.S. Senate Finance Committee estimates. The Treasury plans to start distributing payments May 2.
About 150 people attended yesterday’s session, and some came with concerns, Crawley said. For example, some of those who do not ordinarily file returns each year because their income is so low are “almost afraid that the IRS is going to do something to them,” she said.
Whitehouse and others assured them “that this wasn’t some sort of trap for them” — that the rebate program is not some sort of “gimmick,” Crawley said.
Overall, however, seniors and others at the center were “very excited about this” rebate program, she said. “It’s like found money.”