Laura Davison

Americans will start to receive stimulus payments this week, a centerpiece of the $2.2 trillion rescue package meant to provide a buffer against the coronavirus pandemic that’s shuttered much of the U.S. economy.

This is normally the time of year when the federal government is collecting taxes due, but the devastating coronavirus now has the U.S. trying to rapidly dole out hundreds of billions of dollars in aid and tax breaks to businesses large and small.

Some people counting on $1,200 stimulus checks from the government may not see the money until mid-September, according to a House Ways and Means Committee analysis.

Federal agencies are increasingly sending incorrect benefit payments to Americans, a government watchdog said as the Internal Revenue Service prepares to send more than $292 billion in direct payments to households as part of the government’s coronavirus response.

Some of the most contested pieces of the 2017 tax overhaul are being revisited as the White House and Congress begin to discuss another round of economic stimulus, including restoring the break for entertaining business clients and lifting the cap on state and local deductions.

Large retailers like Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., as well as student loan borrowers, are on a long list of potential winners from tax breaks included in a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill approved by the Senate.

The payments are one of the central provisions of the $2 trillion stimulus package awaiting a Senate vote.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he wants direct payments to households to go out within three weeks of Congress passing a stimulus law, yet former IRS officials say those payments could take months to reach households.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington issued a stay on the tax case Friday — the second in two months — to wait for a full federal appeals court.

Tax forms and payments won’t be due to the Internal Revenue Service until July 15 this year, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a tweet, as the government looks for ways to respond to the coronavirus.

A centerpiece of the package is tax rebates to individuals of $1,200 and $2,400 for married couples. Rebates are completely phased-out for taxpayers with incomes exceeding $99,000 for individuals or $198,000 for a couple.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he supports direct payments of $1,000 per adult and $500 per child to Americans within three weeks if Congress backs the plan.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that his department is pushing back the April 15 tax filing deadline, giving individuals and many businesses 90 extra days to pay taxes they owe.

The administration is also planning $1,000+ stimulus checks.

Former Vice President Joe Biden wants to raise taxes on the wealthy. Senator Bernie Sanders wants to send those levies off the charts.

The U.S. Treasury Department is considering extending the 2019 tax-filing deadline beyond April 15 to provide relief from economic disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing hiking taxes on executive retirement plans and using the extra revenue to aid struggling worker pension plans.

The ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee proposed an amendment that would stop the panel from even thinking about taxing trades of stocks, bonds and derivatives.

A brewing fight about which country has the right to tax some of the world’s most profitable companies, including Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, could devolve into a multi-front trade war, regardless of whether President Donald Trump is still in the White House.

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg took on one of the most fraught tax issues in Democratic politics, proposing that the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions be lifted.