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HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TAXPAYERS WILL NOT RECEIVE REBATE
When Maulit Shelat heard about the Bush administration's plan to pump up the economy by sending out stimulus checks, he sat down with his wife and drew up a list of priorities; first up, remodeling the bathroom.
But Shelat is married to a foreigner who still has not completed the often years-long process that allows her to apply for a Social Security number. Her not having that number makes even him ineligible for the tax rebate checks.
He is among an estimated hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, from legal immigrants to soldiers based abroad, who will be getting a share of the stimulus package because of a provision aimed at preventing immigrants in the U.S. illegally from getting rebates.
When lawmakers decided to send out the checks, ranging from $300 to $600 per adult taxpayer, plus another $300 for each child, they formulated it so only taxpayers who have Social Security numbers would qualify.
The rule unintentionally caught many taxpayers who would have qualified for the bonus, except they filed jointly with a spouse whose immigration status does not allow them to have a Social Security number. Among them are some of the 288,000 troops stationed overseas who may have married a foreigner.
It is not clear how many members of the armed forces posted abroad have married foreigners. But officials in overseas bases say they cannot do anything about the policy.
The Heroes Earnings and Relief Act has provisions to include these taxpayers in the 2008 Stimulus Rebate. They would not qualify for the "advance" but would receive it on their 2008 tax return.
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