Trump Signs Coro­n­avirus Re­lief Bill

MISHAWAKA – On March 27, Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump signed a $2 tril­lion coro­n­avirus re­lief bill. This bill is in­tended to aid those who are ex­pe­ri­enc­ing un­em­ploy­ment dur­ing the pan­demic. It is also in­tended as a stim­u­lus for the gov­ern­ment. The bill of­fers $1,200 to in­di­vid­u­als, as well as an ad­di­tional $500 to par­ents of chil­dren un­der the age of 17.  

Many Amer­i­cans orig­i­nally ex­pected the bill to aid all work­ers who are ex­pe­ri­enc­ing un­em­ploy­ment to re­ceive a check, but the of­fi­cial guide­lines are stricter than that.  

Pay­ments are based on 2018 or 2019 taxes. Most in­di­vid­u­als earn­ing less than $75,000 a year can ex­pect to re­ceive a one-time pay­ment of $1,200, while those who make over that amount can ex­pect to re­ceive $5 less for every $100 of in­come they re­ceive over $75,000. Fam­i­lies should also re­ceive $500 for every child un­der 17. For those on un­em­ploy­ment, the bill adds an ad­di­tional $600 a month for four months, on top of the base amount work­ers re­ceive from the state.  

For stu­dents specif­i­cally, if they have been claimed on their par­ents’ taxes as a de­pen­dent, they are in­el­i­gi­ble to re­ceive a check. How­ever, if a stu­dent filed his or her own taxes for one to two years prior to this tax sea­son, they may be el­i­gi­ble. As far as stu­dent loans, some col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties are of­fer­ing ex­ten­sions on stu­dent loan pay­ments. An em­ployer can also con­tribute up to a $5,250 tax-free stu­dent loan to­wards pay­ments, and work­ers would not have to in­clude that money as in­come.