Treasury anticipates completing the shipment of the $ 600 federal aid by the end of February

The Department of the Treasury plans to begin and complete the distribution of the $ 600 Economic Impact Payment to residents in Puerto Rico before the end of February.

This was revealed today by Àngel Pantoja, Undersecretary of Finance, during a live broadcast via the YouTube platform. “We wanted to start and complete the $ 600 disbursement before the leaf filing period for 2020 begins, which begins in late February,” the official said.

“The interest is that this disbursement was completed and did not conflict with this (sheet) settlement period and so the IRS accepted our recommendation,” Pantoja abounded.

The Secretary of the Treasury, Francisco Parés Alicea, has reported that his agency has received today, from the Federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the comments on the draft submitted by the Treasury of the plan to distribute the $ 600 Economic Impact Payment to island residents.

At the same time, local agency staff reviews the IRS’s comments, with a view to getting their approval as soon as possible. The money will begin to be distributed to citizens after the IRS approves the plan.

Parés has indicated that last year, before distributing the $ 1,200 checks per person approved by the federal government, it took the Treasury 36 days to get the IRS to approve the distribution plan. He added that, at the time, 17 days had passed since the plan was submitted to the IRS for the distribution of the $ 600 payments.

“I understand we’re going well, we’re reviewing the comments and I understand you shouldn’t have major feedback back,” Pantoja said. “I see no further delay in the approval process on the part of them. I think we are on track to overcome this 36-day approval period and be able to have this plan approved in less time.”

Parés and his team are conducting a live broadcast today, via social media, to provide more information about the second round of the $ 600 Economic Impact Payment.

Follow the live broadcast here:

During the broadcast, which began after 12:00 pm via the YouTube channel @haciendapuertorico, it was explained how people who now have a different bank account number than they had when they received the $ 1,200 l check last year they can change it through the link suri.hacienda.pr.gov. Questions submitted by citizens through social media were also answered.

The $ 600 Economic Impact Payment to each citizen and their dependents was approved in late December as part of a package of federal measures to deal with the blow the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted on the country. economy of the United States and its territories.

Treasury has estimated that 2.8 million residents on the island will benefit from these checks, including minors. It has been reported that the Federal Treasury Department will send about $ 1.7 billion to Puerto Rico for the disbursement of this money to the citizens.

Under federal law, the incentive payment will be $ 600 per person. If the person is married, the payment would be $ 1,200 per couple. In addition, a payment of $ 600 is provided for each dependent under the age of 17.

This is the second federal stimulus enacted during the pandemic, as the first consisted of checks for $ 1,200 per person under the CARES federal law, signed in March 2020.