
Just when we'd all but forgotten about those rebate checks many of us received this Summer, the subject is coming up again now that we are approaching the year's end. Now is the time when many Americans begin to organize their documents for the upcoming tax season — can you believe the April deadline is just five months away? As you are entertaining the idea of filing your tax return, keep in mind that there could be more money headed your way than you'd thought.

When rebate checks were distributed to Americans this Summer the IRS only cut checks to citizens whose names and social security numbers matched. The IRS recently announced they would be
issuing overdue checks to 250,000 couples that qualified for the stimulus but were overlooked because of mismatched names and social security numbers.
If one person decides to change their name after marriage, the change should be reported to the Social Security Administration so their social security number matches the new legal name.

Yesterday's news that the US's Gross Domestic Product
only grew 1.9 percent despite the recent flood of rebate checks is a bit surprising. The rebate checks were technically a
one-time tax cut that you don't have to pay back and are considered an advance on the taxes you'll owe in 2008, but the government hoped
consumers would use the "extra" dough and boost the economy by buying things.
Source

Uh-oh spaghetti-o. The economy grew less than expected from April to June despite all the
tax rebate checks that were sent out. The news goes right along with the
77 percent of Savvy readers who didn't believe the checks would stimulate the economy.

Much
to nobody's surprise, the rebate checks issued as part of this year's economic stimulus package haven't done enough to boost our economy thus far. In fact, economists are wondering if another round would prevent our
economy from falling apart entirely. Strong words?

The IRS didn't do itself any favors by publishing very precise schedules for sending stimulus payments to expectant Americans. There have been numerous issues throughout the process and the schedule didn't turn out to be as accurate as the IRS had hoped.
Direct deposit payments started making their way to bank accounts back in late April, and taxpayers with social security numbers ending anywhere from 64-99 will receive their checks over the next few weeks (64-75, your check is supposed to be mailed no later than tomorrow!).

IRS employees haven't had the chance to be bored at work since the economic stimulus plan was announced this year. The IRS fielded six times the call volume during the week of May 24 than the same week last year, which meant extensive waiting time for callers.
A new
report from the Government Accountability Office makes it clear that any consumer spending resulting from the checks may be outweighed by expensive processing and administration costs of the checks.

You'd think the issuance of rebate checks would be smooth considering this isn't the first year they've been sent to encourage taxpayers to spend, but there have been several bumps in the road to stimulation. While this error certainly isn't as bad as sending rebate
checks to incorrect bank accounts, it does require the attention of those rightfully receiving payment.
Several Americans have been overpaid with doubled rebate checks while many others are still
waiting to receive their checks.

Whether we received our rebate checks
according to schedule or not, it seems their arrival (or anticipated arrival) resulted in a surprising retail resurgence. Economists who estimated retail sales would see a 0.5 percent boost during May were proven wrong when
sales actually increased by one percent.
This may indicate the economy isn't as weak as thought, although it's going to take more than a month of increased consumer spending to convince me that we're finding our way out of the woods.

Millions of Americans have already received their rebate checks and have decided the fate of their government-sponsored windfalls. Predictably, my rebate check went straight to my credit card, but other people found more exciting ways to spend their checks and documented their choices on a website called
How I Spent My Stimulus Check. Complete with photos, rebate check receivers shared their spending choices for anyone who cares to see.