No promises on when coronavirus checks are coming

[progree]

Show me the relief money – no promises on when coronavirus checks are coming, MPR News, March 27, 2020

But despite promises that the one-time funds will be distributed "within the next three weeks," it will likely be months before the stimulus checks hit bank accounts according to experts.

Under the plan, single people earning incomes below $75,000 will receive as much as $1,200 as "direct payments into most people's deposit accounts," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a news briefing on Wednesday.

Married couples would get $2,400, and parents would receive $500 for each child under age 17. About 90 percent of households — approximately 165 million — would benefit from the checks, according to the Tax Policy Center.

... "I don't think physical checks will be in the mail for another three to four months," Pomerleau said, citing delays in the system in 2008 when the government last issued national stimulus payments under the George W. Bush administration.

More: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/03/26/npr-show-me-the-relief-money-no-promises-on-when-coronavirus-checks-are-coming

Some more info in my words:

It says the IRS will be handling this, and so people who have given direct deposit information to the IRS will likely see the money first.

Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, suspects the IRS's infrastructure, or lack thereof, will create even more delays ... In the past it has taken several months for the government to develop, test and install the kind of software necessary to launch a rebate program

But the IRS has been closing down some service-critical missions—including return processing—and closing some facilities in response to states' stay-at-home orders.

And all this on top of their tax return processing season.

Progree reminder: federal tax returns aren't due until July 15, likewise payments for taxes due April 15 are now due July 15. But I think estimated tax payments due April 15 are still due April 15.