The $ 600 federal check is expected to benefit 2.8 million Puerto Rican residents

Washington dc– The Puerto Rican government estimates that 2.8 million residents of the island – including dependent children – will benefit from the $ 600 federal checks authorized by the new federal law that seeks to stimulate the economy and address the health emergency that causes the coronavirus.

Secretary of the Treasury Francisco Parés presented this morning to the Federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the plan to distribute checks on the island, about “10 hours” after President Donald Trump turned around to his threat to veto legislation and turn it into law.

“The key will be when the Treasury Department – which must review it after the IRS – quickly approves the distribution plan.”, Secretary Parés has indicated, stressing that the federal government warned that nothing will happen this week. He is also unaware of the impact of the federal government transition on this entire process.

In the first pass, it took the Treasury Department 22 days – 36 days after President Donald Trump signed the Cares Act. to approve the government plan of Puerto Rico for the distribution of the first checks to citizens aimed at alleviating the economic hardships of this pandemic. Parés argued that this total period of 36 days was “a record” compared to previous initiatives, but now, in presenting a plan based on last April’s information — he envisions “a much shorter process”.

Secretary Parés estimates that the Treasury will send the Department of the Treasury a total payment of between $ 1.5 billion and $ 1.7 billion to fund the checks to the citizens, once the draft distribution plan is approved.

Without wanting to establish a specific schedule, Parés indicated that once he has the approval of the Treasury, it will take him a few hours to start direct payments and from “three to four weeks” to reach 90% of citizens.

Under the budget bus that includes economic stimulus initiatives, the overwhelming majority of citizens will receive a check for $ 600 as long as their 2019 revenue has not exceeded $ 75,000.

In the case of couples making contributions together, the payment will be $ 1,200, with a maximum income of $ 150,000.

For each dependent child – age 17 or younger – another $ 600 will be earned. In this regard, a couple with two children will receive a check for $ 2,400 if their income is no more than $ 150,000.

$ 600 checks will be deducted $ 5 for every additional $ 100 until they disappear when the person earns an income of up to $ 87,000. The same goes for couples up to $ 174,000.

The previous time, the IRS did not allow Island inmates to receive the $ 1,200 check from the Faces Act. According to Parents, Puerto Rico’s new government plan calls for the inmates to be included. “We never intended to exclude them,” but the decision is in the hands of the IRS, Parés argued.

Trump had threatened since Tuesday last week to veto legislation calling for $ 600 to $ 2,000 in direct aid to citizens in the economic stimulus project and allocations to foreign countries included, such as it usually happens every year, in the 2021 federal budget.

The economic stimulus project allocates $ 900 billion in direct assistance to citizens, unemployment, assistance to small business owners, housing assistance, food and funds to fund the distribution of coronavirus vaccines, among other things.

This afternoon or evening, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a Democratic amendment to the law to bring direct aid to citizens up to $ 2,000.

But even if the measure is passed in the lower house, where two-thirds of the vote will be required under the rules, it is unlikely to be passed this week in the Republican-controlled Senate. The current Congress session expires on Saturday.

An additional check for $ 600, in that sense, seems to depend more on the request Joe Biden makes once he is sworn in as president on Jan. 20.

However, Pares anticipates that if Congress increased the federal check to $ 2,000, it would have to present a different distribution plan to the IRS.

The signing of the economic stimulus and budget legislation prevented a partial closure of the federal government by midnight today and the expiration of the federal moratorium on evictions on the first day of 2021. of housing. The moratorium has been extended until January 31.

Trump’s delay in turning the measure into law may have cost, however, a week of unemployment benefits.

The new law that seeks to stimulate the economy and address the health emergency caused by the coronavirus proposes federal assistance of $ 300 a week until March 14. But it is likely that the unemployed will not be able to receive this benefit this week, reducing its duration to 10 weeks, instead of 11.

The Secretary of Labor of Puerto Rico, Carlos Rivera Santiago, has indicated today that he is waiting for the federal government guides to start the process of the next unemployment assistance, after between 90,000 and 100,000 self-employed people were left this week without the assistance from the unemployment assistance program created to mitigate the pandemic (PUA).

“As soon as they are established (the guides), we will be in a position to offer a projection of the approximate number of people who would qualify and the date of their disbursement,” Rivera Santiago said.

Through financial institutions, in addition, the Small Business Administration (SBA) will coordinate small business assistance programs, especially payroll protection loans (PPPs) that will have a second round for companies of 300 employees or less and a first chance for those of 500 or less who did not participate in the original PPP.

Companies can apply for loans of up to $ 2 million for between eight and 24 weeks.

Up to $ 150,000 can be forgiven if the company spends at least 60% of the cost on payroll, and the rest on rent or mortgage, utilities, personal protective equipment, technology and accounting services.

“For PPP2 you must show a 25% or more reduction in sales in the quarter of 2020,” compared to 2019, for which you apply for forgiveness of the loan, explained the authorized public accountant ( CPA) Kenneth Rivera Robles, Chairman of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce.

The measure also extends the Employee Retention Credit (ERTC) – for companies that have been subject to an emergency shutdown by coronavirus or a substantial reduction in sales – until June 30, 2021. It is a credit that in tax terms can be tricky to apply for.

“People have to do their analysis to determine if they are asking for the ERTC. The question is whether they are going to have a benefit from the ERTC after they have asked for the PPP,” Rivera Robles added.

The economic stimulus project allocations include $ 13 billion in food assistance funds, of which $ 580 million is for Puerto Rico, according to Washington-based commissioner Jenniffer González.

The measure, in turn, claims more than $ 300 million to assist low-income families in Puerto Rico impacted by the pandemic to pay their rent.

Funds for $ 82 billion in education and to fund the distribution of coronavirus vaccines, as well as to purchase more diagnostic tests for VOCID-19, are not broken down. The same goes for initiatives for transportation ($ 45 billion) and the internet ($ 3.2 billion), among others.

As part of the 2021 draft budget, Congress, as had also been advanced, ordered the National Science Foundation (NSF) to present in 60 days a report on the damage caused by the collapse of the radio telescope of Arecibo, the cleaning process and around the possibility of restoring a similar technology.

The legislation increases, at the same time, to $ 255,800,000 the authorization of Congress for the project of environmental restoration of the Canella Martín Peña, and gives the approval to the start-up of the projects for the control of floods in the Colobrines River, the Gran Manatí River and the Guayanilla River in Puerto Rico.