The Treasury expects to complete shipping of the $ 600 in federal aid by the end of February

The Treasury Department plans to begin and complete the $ 600 economic impact payment disbursement to residents of Puerto Rico by the end of February.

This was announced today by Ángel Pantoja, undersecretary of Finance, during a live broadcast via the YouTube platform. “We wanted to start and complete the $ 600 payout before the 2020 filing period begins, which begins in late February,” the official said.

“The importance is that this payout has been completed and is not inconsistent with that filing period (of returns) and thus the IRS has accepted our recommendation,” added Pantoja.

The Treasury Secretary, Francisco Parés Alicea, reported that his agency today received comments from the Federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS, for its acronym in English) on the draft submitted by the Treasury of the plan to increase payment for economic impact to distribute $ 600 for islanders.

Currently, the local agency staff is reviewing the IRS ‘comments to get their approval as soon as possible. The money will be distributed to the citizens after the IRS approves the plan.

Parés said that last year, before the federal government-approved checks of $ 1,200 per person were distributed, it took the Treasury 36 days for the IRS to approve the distribution plan. He added that as of this writing, 17 days have passed since the plan was filed with the IRS for the distribution of the $ 600 payments.

“I understand we are moving at a good pace, we are reviewing the comments and I understand you shouldn’t have any big comments back,” said Pantoja. “I don’t see any further delay in their approval process. I think we are on track to expire that 36 day approval period and get that plan approved in less time ”.

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

Follow the live broadcast here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqOEs0Xes 4

The airing, which started after noon on the YouTube channel @haciendapuertorico, explained how people who now have a different bank account number than they had when they received the $ 1,200 check last year can cash it in. via the link suri.hacienda.pr.gov. Citizens’ questions were also answered through social networks.

The $ 600 economic impact payment to each citizen and their families was approved in late December as part of a package of federal measures to deal with the blow that the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt to the economy of the United States and its territories .

The Treasury estimates that 2.8 million residents of the island, including minors, will benefit from these controls. Reportedly, 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 is $ 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 any dependent person under the age of 17.

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