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A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

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mc2fool
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A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445269

Postby mc2fool » September 25th, 2021, 2:17 pm

(Not sure which is the appropriate board for this; mods feel free to move it if it's not here.)

Background: In the 1980s I lived and worked in the USA for four and a half years. As a result I have a US social security number and I now receive a small US state pension. I haven't filed a US tax return since the year after I lived there, and I'm a UK citizen and I live in London.

A few months ago I got a letter from Joe Biden, "My fellow American ..." (I'm not), which told me that as part of the "American Rescue Plan" a direct payment of $1,400 had been issued to me, and if I didn't receive it within 7 days I should call the IRS.

Well I figured, that's got to be an error, so when I didn't receive anything further I just ignored it, other than being a little amused to receive a letter from Joe Biden (ok, it's a template letter that's been sent to millions, but still ... :D)

Well, today I'm gobsmacked on opening my post to receive a cheque from the US Treasury for $1,400! :o It's marked "Economic Impact Payment".

I know there's several other Lemons that are in a similar UK citizen and resident who worked in the US for a few years situation to me and I'm wondering if anyone else has also received such an Economic Impact Payment, and what they've done or are planning to do about it.

I could simply say thank you and cash it, but then it'll be quite a hassle if they decide it's a mistake and they want the $1,400 back ... if that's going to happen then I'd rather just hold onto the cheque and post it back to them. :?

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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445284

Postby BBLSP1 » September 25th, 2021, 3:37 pm

I was a US citizen up to 2011 and filed us tax returns up to then. Worked in us for 1 year, mid 80s. Now a British citizen. Nothing seen by me.

UncleEbenezer
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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445317

Postby UncleEbenezer » September 25th, 2021, 6:44 pm

mc2fool wrote:Well, today I'm gobsmacked on opening my post to receive a cheque from the US Treasury for $1,400! :o It's marked "Economic Impact Payment".

I think it's your round in the snug!

If it arrived at your UK address, someone must know you're here not there. Did you make some US friends in the business of distributing pork-barrel funds?

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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445351

Postby Lootman » September 26th, 2021, 12:05 am

mc2fool wrote:A few months ago I got a letter from Joe Biden, "My fellow American ..." (I'm not), which told me that as part of the "American Rescue Plan" a direct payment of $1,400 had been issued to me, and if I didn't receive it within 7 days I should call the IRS.

Actually there were three separate payments issued because of Covid. There were two in 2020 ($1,000 and $600) and then one in 2021 ($1,400).

My understanding is that there were two criteria for receiving these. The first was that you had filed a US tax return in the previous tax year or two. The second was that your adjusted gross income on those returns for those tax years was less than a certain amount (might have been $80,000 a year, not sure).

On that basis it is surprising that you got one of the cheques, assuming you did not file a 1040NR in recent years. Apart from anything else how do the IRS even know where you live, if you haven't lived there and filed taxes for years?

For those with up to date tax returns where the refund goes directly to your bank account, the IRS didn't even bother to send out cheques, but rather direct deposited the amounts into your bank account. Whilst if you owed taxes and paid by cheque, they captured your bank details and sent the payments to your bank account.

Assuming you were entitled to these payments (and your income may rule you out of eligibility) then there are procedures for claiming them. The $600 can be claimed by submitting a tax return for 2020. Not sure about the earlier one but it is called the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit if that helps.

The amounts are not taxable in the US but may be here.

Of course if you deposit the cheque you might be opening a can of worms. Cheques issued by the US Treasury are good for one year so there is no rush.

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus-tax-rel ... t-payments

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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445357

Postby mc2fool » September 26th, 2021, 1:12 am

Lootman wrote:Actually there were three separate payments issued because of Covid. There were two in 2020 ($1,000 and $600) and then one in 2021 ($1,400).
:
On that basis it is surprising that you got one of the cheques, assuming you did not file a 1040NR in recent years. Apart from anything else how do the IRS even know where you live, if you haven't lived there and filed taxes for years?
:
Of course if you deposit the cheque you might be opening a can of worms. Cheques issued by the US Treasury are good for one year so there is no rush.

Yeah, I didn't hear or receive anything in respect of the first two payments, hence my initial reaction of ha-ha-yeah-sure to the letter from Joe saying I was being sent £1,400. And, as I say, the last US tax return I filed was in 1986.

I do still have a (never closed and hardly used) US bank account and, as I say, I am in receipt of a small US Social Security pension, both of which have my address and SSN associated with them, and I did file a W-8BEN with one of my UK brokers some years back and quite likely put my SSN on that, so there's several ways they could have my address.

Yes, the cheque says "void after one year" but it was issued in April, the day after the letter from Joe ... it's just taken a few months longer to get here!

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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445395

Postby XFool » September 26th, 2021, 12:01 pm

Possibly contact the US embassy in this country for advice?

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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445410

Postby Lootman » September 26th, 2021, 1:10 pm

mc2fool wrote:
Lootman wrote:Actually there were three separate payments issued because of Covid. There were two in 2020 ($1,000 and $600) and then one in 2021 ($1,400).
:
On that basis it is surprising that you got one of the cheques, assuming you did not file a 1040NR in recent years. Apart from anything else how do the IRS even know where you live, if you haven't lived there and filed taxes for years?
:
Of course if you deposit the cheque you might be opening a can of worms. Cheques issued by the US Treasury are good for one year so there is no rush.

Yeah, I didn't hear or receive anything in respect of the first two payments, hence my initial reaction of ha-ha-yeah-sure to the letter from Joe saying I was being sent £1,400. And, as I say, the last US tax return I filed was in 1986.

I do still have a (never closed and hardly used) US bank account and, as I say, I am in receipt of a small US Social Security pension, both of which have my address and SSN associated with them, and I did file a W-8BEN with one of my UK brokers some years back and quite likely put my SSN on that, so there's several ways they could have my address.

Yes, the cheque says "void after one year" but it was issued in April, the day after the letter from Joe ... it's just taken a few months longer to get here!

If I had to guess then being a recipient of US Social Security retirement benefits might be a factor. Since you said that is a small pension then you would not need to file a 1040NR just for that (e.g. those with incomes less than $12,400 if single and under 65 do not have to file). And if that amount were assumed to be your sole income then you would qualify on income grounds as well. But it is still a surprise - my wife is a US citizen who files US taxes every year and she didn't get anything.

As an aside I was under the impression that you needed a minimum of 10 years of contributions to Social Security to qualify for a US state pension. Did you work there that long or is my impression wrong? And you cannot buy back years like you can here.

I don't know what I would do in your situation but it's a nice problem to have.

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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445415

Postby mc2fool » September 26th, 2021, 1:28 pm

Well, on a bit of finer googling it seems I'm not the only one and it's been happening since the first stimulus cheque.

"The IRS now acknowledges that its own error caused some citizens of other countries to mistakenly receive $1,200 coronavirus relief payments — and that the mistake is likely to happen again if more stimulus money goes out.
:
...the IRS acknowledged it mistakenly sent checks to some noncitizens who receive Social Security and other federal benefits...
"
https://www.npr.org/2020/11/30/938902523/irs-says-its-own-error-sent-1-200-stimulus-checks-to-non-americans-overseas

So, it seems that receiving a federal benefit, such as Social Security (US state pension), as I do, is a key factor in this cockup ... although obviously not the only one otherwise a lot more people would be mistakenly getting them.

According to another, later, article, the previously reported on Ms Wigforss, a 78-year-old Swedish citizen who lives in Stockholm and got the first stimulus cheque, ended up getting all three.

"When the mail came and I saw there was a letter from [the] IRS, I said out loud, 'They couldn't possibly do this again!'" Wigforss recalled. "But when I opened the letter, there it was, signed by Joseph Biden, White House, that another check is on the way. I was stunned."
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/05/1003256306/a-foreign-bank-helped-recover-irs-stimulus-checks-to-non-americans-it-didnt-go-w

Stunned she was! :lol: Well, me too...

So, the question now is what to do with it ... as Lootman says, depositing the cheque could well open a can of worms and cause all sorts of hassles. So, shall I bother to return it to the IRS's foreign return address (at a cost of £1.70 postage!), or shall I just frame it for ongoing amusement value ... :D

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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#445418

Postby mc2fool » September 26th, 2021, 1:43 pm

Lootman wrote:As an aside I was under the impression that you needed a minimum of 10 years of contributions to Social Security to qualify for a US state pension. Did you work there that long or is my impression wrong?

No, I only worked there for four and a half years, but under the US-UK treaty UK qualifying years count towards the 10 years needed for qualification to the US state pension. The UK years don't count towards the $ amount of my US pension -- I only get 4.5 years "worth" of it -- but it's better than the zero I'd have got otherwise. :D

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Re: A letter from Joe and a cheque from the US Treasury

#448768

Postby mc2fool » October 8th, 2021, 2:42 pm

Well they've definitely got me on some list or another ... today I got an email from the US Social Security Administration saying:

It’s not too late!
Get all the benefits you’re entitled to under the law.
A new non-filer sign-up tool is available if you do not usually file a tax return to claim the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and missing Economic Impact Payments, known as stimulus payments.
Learn More!


They really are encouraging me to get all the benefits I'm not entitled to under the law. :o :lol:

P.S. I've decided to just file the cheque and letter from Joe for future amusement value. Not sure I'll ever get round to actually framing them though, it's not that funny. ;)


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