Thursday, April 2, 2009

Married Couples: Watch Out for that Stimulus Money

If you are married and both spouses work, watch out for the stimulus money that the federal government is giving to you in your paycheck. I read this article on Money.com which explains how it works.

Couples who are eligible to receive the stimulus money and file married/jointly will be overpaid because the system is set up to assume the other spouse doesn't work. Singles are supposed to get $400, and couples are supposed to get $800. But the article says that it's actually set up so that each spouse in a married couple gets $600, which means we'll get $1200 when we are only supposed to get $800. If we don't do anything, we'll end up owing $400 back to the government next April.

So dumb. It was easier to just get a check than to fool around with payroll.

Looks like it is time to revisit the IRS Withholding Calculator.

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