Andrew Scheer getting $1,200 COVID-19 cheque #U.S.CITIZEN. 1000s of Canadians getting US stimulus cheques
Thousands of people in Canada can expect a letter shortly from the U.S. Treasury Department explaining that they will be receiving stimulus cheques of $1200 called the Economic Impact Payments. All American citizens who filed taxes in 2018 or 2019 will automatically be sent US$1,200 ($1,680) as long they make less than US$75,000 if they are single or US$150,000 if married. This includes U.S. citizens in Canada. Unlike Canadian benefit programs put in place during the pandemic, the U.S. program doesn’t require beneficiaries to live in their own country.
The US is one of only two countries in the world that tax based on citizenship. No matter where they live in the world, are always subject to U.S. tax. According to Statistics Canada 2016 census data, 284,870 people in Canada declared having U.S. citizenship. One of them will be Conservative Member of Parliament Andrew Scheer a dual U.S. and Canadian citizen who likely has already received his cheque in the mail last week. Mr Scheer has refused to give up his US citizenship. He promised during the last federal election that he would renounce his citizenship in his bid to become Prime Minister of Canada. He has also said that he registered to participate in the draft in needed for the US military.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, the agency that administers the Economic Impact Payment program, nearly 750,000 stimulus cheques have gone out to “foreign addresses,” totalling $1.2 billion. The IRS can’t say how many of those went to people in Canada. Foreign addresses doesn’t necessarily imply non-Americans. Members of the military and U.S. citizens who live or work abroad would be in that category, along with non-citizens who may have, for tax purposes, U.S. resident status.
But be warned, if you’re an American in Canada who’s eligible to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) because you lost your job due to COVID-19, you may want to think twice before cashing that US$1,200 cheque.
To be eligible to receive CERB payments, you have to have made less than $1,000 in the period during which you’re applying. Depending on if the Canada Revenue Agency determines that stimulus money from the American government is revenue or not, depositing that cheque from the U.S. may make you ineligible for CERB.
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