These States Are Sending Out Stimulus Checks In 2023: Does The Federal Government Have Any Payment For This Year?

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Despite the pandemic that assailed people worldwide in 2020 and 2021 medically and economically, 2022 was no better for many. Americans had the support of the stimulus checks to ride out the initial period of the pandemic, even as other federal measures helped them along the way till 2021. But since 2022, the states have supported people in the absence of federal funding. 

There is little doubt that 2022 was difficult for Americans with the previous two years of intermittent lockdowns and economic downturn. This was followed by the war in Europe and the breakdown of cheap oil imports from Russia as a result.

But the end of the federal stimulus checks in 2022 coincided with the price rise that started in the last quarter of 2021. The rise was relentless through the year and beat a four-decade record as the inflation rate crossed the 9% mark in June 2022 to finally end the month at 9.1%, the highest since the early eighties. 

While the Federal Reserve has relied on raising interest rates to stem rising prices, residents also had the support of a host of state-backed welfare measures. But the support was limited to less than half of the total American states and only twenty-one states participated in the move to give residents inflation relief payments.  

The payment was either in the form of direct stimulus checks either to bank accounts or through the US Postal Service in the form of paper checks and debit cards. Many states also relied on tax rebates for citizens. 

But these were limited in scope as they were all one-off payments and were limited by the economic capabilities of the states. 

IRS Reached Out To Ten Million Individuals And Families To Collect Pending Stimulus Checks

In no way could they match the federal support to citizens during the pandemic. While any news of a fourth stimulus check from Washington remained elusive, the IRS reached out to around ten million families and individuals. The agency invited them to file a simple federal income tax return and collect the payments

But the federal government and the Federal Reserve have both confirmed that there is no more stimulus check forthcoming shortly, definitely not at least in 2023. Americans realized early on that they were in for another tough financial year ahead as prices remained high in the first quarter of the year. 

Lack Of Federal Stimulus Checks Compounded By Smaller Tax Refund Checks

An IRS bulletin at the end of 2022 also warned that tax refund checks in 2023 for the 2022 financial year would be way less when compared to the previous year’s payments. 

The absence of stimulus checks and the expanded version of the Child Tax Credit stimulus checks in 2022 meant that low and moderate-income families were in for another round of disappointment during the 2023 tax season.  

The letter clearly stated that refunds would be smaller in 2023. Taxpayers did not receive an additional stimulus check with their 2023 income tax refund as there were no Economic Impact Payments in 2022.

Thus the agency indicated that unlike in the past, low and moderate-income families and individuals should not rely on tax rebates to help them pay for their necessities such as gasoline and groceries. 

While the pandemic is firmly behind us, the lack of further stimulus checks from the federal administration has been a severe impediment for families in 2023. Families no longer have the benefits of welfare schemes such as the expanded Child Tax Credit stimulus check. They were of considerable support in 2021 and again during the 2022 tax season when they received 50% of the balance amount as a tax refund. 

Some states have filled the considerable gap left by the federal government’s inability to convince Congress to go for another round of payments. Twenty-one states have sent out payments that have provided varied degrees of relief to residents. 

While states like Maine and New Mexico were quick off the mark sending out stimulus checks by the second quarter of 2022, the biggest of them all, California waited till the festive season in the last quarter of 2022.

California allocated the biggest amount for Middle-Class Tax Relief, relying on close to a hundred billion dollar surplus that it enjoyed in the 2021 financial year when the nation experienced an economic boom coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Idaho is among the handful of states that have approved giving residents a stimulus check that will be paid in 2023. The bill was passed at a special session in 2022. The calculations are a bit complicated though. The stimulus check is the great of the three; 10% of the income tax liability of a taxpayer for 2020, $600 for married couples filing jointly, or $300 for individual filers. The Idaho Tax Commission has reckoned that they will be spending around $800,000 which will come to around $500 million. 

New Jersey is another of a handful of states that is supporting residents with stimulus checks in 2023. The state is giving out the money as property tax rebates to two million of its residents. Around $2 billion has been earmarked for the rebate funds and the criteria are based on income, with families with a total earning of up to $150,000 qualifying for $1,500 while those earning between $150,000 and $250,000 will receive $1,000.

For the first time, renters are also entitled to a stimulus check of $450 if their earnings for 2020 were within $150,000. The payments are expected to be sent out no later than May 2023.

While Pennsylvania has been sending out payments to older renters, the disabled, and homeowners since July 2022, the deadline for filing claims was December 2022. The payments have naturally spilled into 2023 for qualifying residents who have submitted their paperwork before the December deadline. 

South Carolina is among the countries that began issuing refund checks of up to $800 for qualifying residents. in the latter half of 2022. Filers who sent in their returns before the October 17 deadline received their payments. But taxpayers who filed later but before the final deadline of February 15, 2023, will receive their payments in March. But the payments have spilled over into the second quarter of 2023.