“Some Americans who qualified for stimulus checks received an unwelcome surprise when the $500 payments for their children under 17 were not included. Starting today, the U.S. government plans to send out the missing cash.   That applies to those individuals and couples who are not required to file a tax return and used the IRS non-filer tool to provide information on their qualifying children.”

“There are 53 different unemployment systems across the United States and its territories, all of them inundated with record numbers of unemployment claims , and they all have different ways of calculating and handing out benefits. As of now, they all dispense their normal unemployment checks, which vary based on the state and how much a worker was earning over a certain period before losing his or her job. For the last several months, states have been adding $600 per week from the federal government on top of those benefits because of the coronavirus pandemic.”

“Congress is poised to approve a second round of stimulus payments for U.S. households, and money could reach many Americans faster this time. The Internal Revenue Service now has procedures, online tools, bank-account information and coordination with other agencies that it didn’t have set up in advance when the first round of payments was approved in the spring.”

“Americans have lost more than $77 million in fraud related to Covid-19, according to the Federal Trade Commission. But that tally is likely a severe undercount amid an “unprecedented” scope of scams connected to the coronavirus, according to John Breyault, vice president of public policy, telecommunications and fraud at the National Consumers League, a consumer advocacy group.”

“The federal government has sent stimulus checks of up to $1,200 to millions of Americans — including deceased individuals. A new report from the Government Accountability Office finds that about 1.1 million payments, totaling almost $1.4 billion, mistakenly have been sent to dead people as of April 30.   Those errors come as the U.S. government has rushed out stimulus payments to millions of Americans in recent months.”

“Unemployment payments jumped to at least $16.2 billion in April, up more than five-fold from February, as layoffs attributed to the coronavirus pandemic swept through the economy. The figure is still preliminary, with April payment data for six states including Florida and Michigan still not available on a Department of Labor Web site that provides detailed unemployment insurance information from the 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

“U.S. consumer sentiment posted a surprise increase in early May amid widespread virus-relief payments and discounts for big-ticket items, though pessimism deepened about the longer-term outlook for incomes and the economy. The University of Michigan’s preliminary sentiment index rose 1.9 points from an eight-year low to 73.7, according to data Friday. That compared with the median estimate for a decline to 68 in a Bloomberg survey of economists.”

“Community lenders punched above their weight in the Paycheck Protection Program, the government’s lifeline to small businesses”

“The U.S. Treasury Department is planning to instruct people whose deceased relatives received coronavirus stimulus payments to return the money to the federal government, according to a department spokesman. The Treasury is aware that some individuals who have recently died received the $1,200 economic impact payments and plans to issue guidance in the coming days, the spokesman said.”

“Online payment services like Venmo and Cash App have exploded in popularity over the past few years, but they haven’t quite hit the legitimacy threshold, at least in the eyes of the federal government, of checks or direct deposit. They’re hoping to change that with the government’s new stimulus package, and are going on a public campaign to be considered as a way for the Treasury Department to deliver payments directly to Americans.”

“Nearly 30 percent (29%) of U.S. adults are still likely to mail in checks to pay taxes owed to the government, according to an online survey of 1,270 adults by YouGov and ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions . Of those who chose to receive tax refunds through a check in the mail (19%), more Millennials (22%) opted for this approach over their Generation X (20%) and Baby Boomer (17%) cohorts.”

“The IRS is looking at ways to make paying back delinquent debts as easy as making a purchase through commonplace tools like Venmo, or Square’s credit-card readers that plug into smartphones. The agency, according to a request for information filed last Thursday, looks to provide “innovative and state-of-the-art, alternative, non-cash payment methods” to revenue officers who knock on doors to collect debts owed by taxpayers. The RFI asks vendors to provide feedback about possibly using mobile applications, “mobile payment devices” and other tools to facilitate on-the-spot payments. The agency has asked vendors whether their mobile apps would be compatible with iOS, Android or other mobile operating platforms.”

“The Power Ministry has decided to make all meters smart prepaid in three years from April 1, 2019. “This step is likely to bring revolution in power sector by way of reduction in AT&C losses, better health of DISCOMs, incentivisation of energy conservation, ease of bill payments and doing away with the paper bills,” it said.”