The checks are in the mail. The first batch of federal rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury have been sent out a week earlier than planned.

AP / Matt Rourke

The rebate program has now officially begun.

The U.S. Treasury last week began depositing rebates directly into the bank and credit union accounts of taxpayers who completed the “direct deposit” section of their 2007 federal income-tax returns.

And on Thursday, the Treasury began the first mass production of rebate checks, some of which could be in the mail this weekend –– about a week earlier than scheduled.

So where’s your rebate? And if you haven’t received it, can you find out its status? Those are the questions that a man from Providence asked MoneyLine:

Q: The last two digits [of my Social Security number] are 02. I understand [the rebates] are going out this week, and I have not received it yet. Is there any way this can be traced?

— M.F., Providence

A: You’ve raised a few issues. Let’s take them one at a time:

•Tracing Rebates: With little fanfare, the Internal Revenue Service has just launched a new online tool that you can use to find out the status of your rebate.

There’s been no official announcement, but the tool is now up and running. It’s not easy to locate, but you can find it quickly enough. Start with the IRS Web site’s homepage:

www.irs.gov

Click on the “Rebate Payment Questions?” link at the top of the page. Then scroll down to the “Where’s My Stimulus Payment?” link.

You’ll be asked to enter the following items:

•The Social Security number that appeared first on your 2007 return.

•The “filing status” you chose on that return (in other words, whether you filed as single or married filing jointly, for example).

•The overall number of exemptions you entered on that return. (In general, you get one exemption for yourself, one for your spouse, and one for each of your children.)

The tool will then tell you how much of a rebate you should receive and when you should receive it.

I tried the tool Thursday night. It told me that I would receive my rebate yesterday, by direct deposit. I checked my account balance yesterday and there it was.

So the system works — at least it did for me. If it doesn’t work for you, it could be because your return is still being processed.

As a general rule, you should wait six weeks after you filed your return before using the tool, IRS spokeswoman Peggy Riley said. “If you just filed your return recently, the information may not be available” because returns are still being processed, she said.

If you don’t have ready Internet access, you may call the IRS toll-free at (800) 829-1040 to check on the status of your rebate. Remember, though, that the IRS is being swamped with calls from people who want to know the same sort of thing, Riley said. “The phone lines have been extremely busy,” she said.

•The Big Picture: Although the Treasury has begun issuing rebates, we’re still in the early stages.

And it’s no small undertaking, said Mary F. Bernard, former president of the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants. “It’s a very large volume involved here,” she said.

Overall, the Treasury this year plans to issue more than $107 billion in rebates to more than 130 million households.

So there’s a ways to go. For example, according to figures issued yesterday by the Treasury, nearly 22.2 million rebates went out this week, totaling about $20.1 billion.

Since Uncle Sam began the rebate distribution last week, nearly 30 million rebates have been issued overall, totaling about $27.2 billion.

In round numbers, then, the rebate distribution program is only about 25-percent complete.

•Where’s Your Rebate? Based on the information above, you know that some people have received their rebates, but most have not.

In general, if you completed the direct deposit section of your 2007 return, your rebate will be deposited directly into your bank or credit union account, too. Otherwise, you’ll receive a rebate check by mail.

Directly deposited rebates are being issued sooner than rebate checks.

Either way, the Treasury is issuing rebates based on the last two digits of the Social Security number listed first on your 2007 return. The closer those digits are to “00,” the sooner you’ll get your rebate; the closer those digits are to “99,” the later you’ll get your rebate.

As noted above, the first batch of directly deposited rebates started last week; that process should be finished by Friday, May 16.

The first batch of rebate checks went is going into the mail now; the Treasury will continue mailing rebate checks through July 11.

What if you were scheduled to receive yours already and haven’t? There are lots of possible reasons. For example:

•To process your rebate, the government is relying on the information on your 2007 return. So the IRS first must process your return before the Treasury can issue your rebate.

In general, the earlier in the season you filed your return, the sooner you’ll get your rebate, Riley said. The later you filed, the later your rebate will arrive.

For example, if you filed your return on or a little before the April 15 deadline, it could take six to eight weeks to process your return, said Bernard, tax principal at Kahn Litwin Renza & Co., Ltd., a CPA firm in Providence.

Use this rule of thumb: If you were due a federal income-tax refund this year and you received it, your rebate should arrive about two weeks after that, Riley said.

Earlier this year, the IRS said that if you filed your return by the April 15 deadline, you could be pretty much assured that your rebate would be included in the first batches.

But that was only a general rule, Riley said yesterday. Keep in mind that it takes longer to process more complex returns, she said. So, in general, if you filed a complex return in late March or early April, your rebate may not be included in the first batches, she said.

That’s true even if you filled out the direct deposit section on your return, and the last two digits of your Social Security number are close to “00,” she said.

•If there was a problem with your return, your rebate will probably not be included in the first batches of rebates issued. “There may be something on your return” that delayed processing, such as a math error, Bernard said. (Math errors are more likely to occur on paper returns than on electronically filed returns, she said.)

•If you filled out the direct deposit section of your return, it’s possible that your rebate will be issued in the form of a check instead. If that’s the case, you’ll get your rebate later than planned. (For example, if you didn’t enter your bank or credit-union account correctly, or if the account has been closed since you filed your return, the Treasury will have to convert your rebate to a check and mail it to you.)

TODAY’S TIP: Suppose you arranged, through your tax preparer, to have your federal income-tax refund loaded onto a prepaid card. Will you receive your rebate that way, too? This issue will be the focus of tomorrow’s MoneyLine.

Coming in Monday’s MoneyLine: Rebates for residents of Puerto Rico.

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