alt.social-security-disability

On Feb 10, 1:54 am, mb__...@ wrote:
> On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 21:06:52 -0800, "DrFeelgoodWA"
>
> wrote:
> >"The IRS and treasury" will be working close with SSA and Veterans
> >affairs. That leads me to the possible conclusion those who get only
> >SSA and or Veteran's benefits may not need to do anything.
>
> You seemed to miss the importance of a key phrase there. From the IRS
> site:
>
> "The IRS and Treasury will be working closely with the Department of
> Veterans Affairs and Social Security Administration along with
> beneficiary organizations to ensure that *all eligible individuals
> know what to do to receive a stimulus payment.*"
>
> This strongly suggests something a bit more than just a passive act of
> waiting will be required.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is my take (for what it's worth), speaking from my
experience of working as a Tax Examiner for the IRS.

First let me say that one function of the IRS is to verify tax filings
to Social Security; yes, even if they are zeroed out returns.

Why is this important?
Accountability.

When a person applies to draw SS retirement, red flags go up for years
when W2's were issued and the IRS has not verified a tax return was
filed for that year. Leaving an accountable trail today will save a
person from surprising hassles later.

Here's another situation: a very young couple I met had applied for a
federally insured housing loan. It was discovered that they had never
filed any tax returns. Never. Well, the government wasn't about to
sign off on a penny until the couple got their tax situation
straightened out. Ironically, when the couple did follow through with
their accountability, they actually had refunds coming. They just had
never filed to receive them. Eventually they got a house loan, just
not on the original house they'd wanted so much.

RE the Stimulus checks:
In my opinion, the IRS will be THE functional coordinating agency. My
sense is that for checks and balances, people will apply via filing a
tax return to have their check issued . The 'proof' of qualifying
income will be verified by a 1099 form from Social Security (attached
to the tax return). Besides physically verifying the form, the
computer system will also compare line 20a on a 1040 form with shared
interagency computer records (SS, VA). Programming code will then
calculate and generate the checks. Therefore, and most importantly,
leaving a 'consistent and accountable' audit trail.

There's no problem for anyone with SSDI income filing a tax return
right now. Logically and historically, the earliest filed returns
receive the earliest refunds. I suspect it will be the same with any
SSDI return filed showing over $3,000 in verifiable income from SS/
VA. If for some off the wall reason, the IRS agency is by-passed and
checks really are delivered via other agencys, it's no skin off
anyones nose who has filed.

Fear not!