The Federal Trade Commission has made an announcement to beware of stimulus check fraud or scams that try to collect fees in order to receive your stimulus payment.
Democrats are negotiating guidelines for new stimulus checks to help individuals that are affected by the coronavirus pandemic. where the government will cover $2000 per month for the next 6-12 months.
Also, the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan program status for small businesses and keep workers on the payroll. Additional funding is also being negotiated to add another $310 billion to the exhausting round one program.
Stimulus check fraud
Whenever there is money going to you, there will be fraudsters that will take advantage of it.
At Local Tax, we advise our clients to check the Treasury Departments (IRS) website directly on the status of your stimulus update.
Here are 4 tips to avoid Coronavirus stimulus payment scam:
- They are no fee to receive your stimulus money.
- Update any bank accounts on irs.gov/coronavirus.
- The IRS will not contact you by phone, email, text message, or social media and ask about your Social Security number, bank account or debit card details.
- The IRS will not notify you to pay back your stimulus check because they sent you more money.
Be aware of third party websites that ask you about your personal information and promises to process your stimulus money faster.
Paycheck Protection Program Loan Program
The Paycheck Protection Program loan program is a forgivable loan that helps small businesses affected by coronavirus. Congress allocated $349 billion to this program and the funding ran out in just 13 days.
Business owners in Southern California are struggling to apply for help where ever they can. According to the federal Small Business Administration, only 112,967 small businesses in California were approved for the loans.
California has 3.7 million small businesses.
The new proposed deal will add another $300 billion to the PPE loan program.
Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin has stated that $300 billion should be sufficient to reach almost everybody.
Most experts say that this cash will only last a few days since a number of individuals was not able to apply on the first package.
Fourth Stimulus package
There are several stimulus packages that are in the works but the latest one that’s gaining traction is the new $450 billion coronavirus stimulus package.
Congress and the White House is still negotiating on the details of the package. On this package, the proposal of giving every tax payer $2,000/month for the next 6- 12 months.
It will provide individuals over the age of 16 with the payments even if someone else can claim them as a dependent. This will also open new options for payments to be received through Paypal, Venmo, and Zelle.
Stimulus check status
IRS updates its information each night, therefore if you haven’t received your stimulus check yet check with the link below:
If you have any questions about the stimulus check fraud, let us know. Also, you can sign up for our newsletter and get updated news regarding your taxes and the stimulus program.
