by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM News Saturday, May 17, 2008 Subscribe to Clynt's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

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Are you still waiting for your economic stimulus check to show up in your mailbox? You're not alone. We looked into why some island residents might be experiencing a delay. Lawrence Terlaje of the Department of Revenue & Taxation says that they are currently processing returns for those who filed their tax returns during the second week of February. After they finish processing this batch they will validate all the Social Security Numbers through the Social Security Administration via the Internal Revenue Service.

Terlaje says letters will be mailed out to taxpayers whose SSNs don't match their names, adding that some are due to name changes; for example, when someone either gets married or divorced. Terlaje reminds everyone who may have changed their names to make sure that changes are made at the Social Security Administration. In response to an influx of complaints by people who are getting smaller rebates than anticipated, Terlaje clarifies the amount of money taxpayers are eligible to receive.

He explained, "We do the calculation for you, but once you are eligible the range we are talking about at this point for each individual can go from $300 up to $600 individually. Of course, if you're married, now you're talking about from $600 up to $1,200."

As for those with kids, Terlaje says each child can qualify someone for $300 in rebate money. Rev & Tax has a worksheet for those who would like to calculate their own rebate amounts.

Meanwhile, the agency's enforcement administrator, Paul Pablo, is addressing the controversial issue of offsetting or garnishing of rebates saying that it is a misconception that the government made a special request for garnishing stimulus checks for the offsetting of money taxpayers may owe the government. "This again wasn't orchestrated by the administration or Rev & Tax," he said, "We're basically following the interpretation of the law as mirrored with the internal revenue code."

Pablo says that while many are complaining that offsets take away from the economic benefits, he begs to differ - those who have their rebates garnished now have fewer bills to worry about therefore giving them more money back into their pockets that they can spend on other things.