Q: We had to do an amendment on our taxes on March 28, and we were wondering if this would hold up our rebate check. We have not received our government check yet, and [were] wondering if it will be delayed. . . .

— B.R., Cranston

A: You probably filed an amended federal income-tax return, either by completing U.S. Form 1040X or by filling out another U.S. Form 1040 and writing “corrected” at the top, said Mary F. Bernard, former president of the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Either way, the Internal Revenue Service may not have processed it yet. The IRS may be giving priority to processing original returns instead, said Bernard, who is tax principal at Kahn Litwin Renza & Co. Ltd., a CPA firm in Providence.

As a result, your rebate may not be included in the first batches of rebates that are being distributed now by the U.S. Treasury.

IRS spokeswoman Peggy Riley put it this way: “If you had to amend your return, then you’ll have to wait until your amended return is processed before you can get your [rebate] payment.”

It could take four to six weeks — maybe longer — to process your amended return, Riley said. Your rebate would be processed shortly afterward, she said.

Q: My last numbers of my Social Security number [are] 02, and I have not received anything yet. I think I was supposed to get a paper check by the 16th and I have not yet. But I wondered what happened to my rebate.

— I.B., Rumford

A: The U.S. Treasury said yesterday that it has now issued more than $50 billion in economic stimulus payments — also known as rebates — to about 57 million households.

However, in round numbers, that’s a little less than half the total in rebates that the Treasury is scheduled to distribute this year.

So while some of your relatives and friends may have received their rebates already, many others are still awaiting their payments.

If your federal income-tax return was filed early in the filing season, your rebate should be included in the first batches that the Treasury is in the process of sending out, a process that will continue through mid-July.

“For tax returns processed by the Internal Revenue Service by April 15, households will receive their payments according to the last two digits of the Social Security number on the tax form,” the Treasury said yesterday. (In general, the closer those digits are to “00,” the earlier you’ll get your rebate; the closer those digits are to “99,” the later you’ll get your rebate.)

However, if your return was filed later in the season — say anywhere from mid-March to mid-April — it may not have been processed by the April 15 deadline.

If that’s the case, you’ll receive your rebate later on, probably later this summer. (Keep in mind that the Treasury plans to continue issuing rebates straight through the end of this year.)

Also yesterday, the Treasury issued a couple of reminders:

•Treasury facilities are still working to complete the mailing of regular tax refund checks, and thus are not at full capacity for printing and mailing rebate checks. Next month, once the regular tax refund mailings are complete, the Treasury will print and mail rebate checks at full capacity. Weekly volumes will then increase.

•A small percentage of federal income-tax returns will require additional time to process and to compute a rebate amount. “For these returns, stimulus payments may not be issued in accordance with the schedule . . . even if the tax return was processed by April 15. In these cases, the stimulus payment will be issued approximately two weeks after the tax return is ultimately processed,” the Treasury said.

Q: In March I sent in the stimulus return form but never put my Social Security amount in, and I realized it and questioned the tax helper at [the] senior center. He said forget about that one, and he did another one for me and I mailed it in . . . . As of today, I still have not got the check. But [on] May 10, I received the other form, saying it needed to be corrected. I don’t know if that fouled it up or will I get my check.

— E.F., Cumberland

A: Based on the information you provided in your question to MoneyLine, it sounds as if you’re part of a category of people to whom special rebate rules apply.

If you’re in that category, you don’t ordinarily file a return because your income is too low. But you are nevertheless eligible for a rebate, provided you had at least $3,000 in “qualifying income” last year (such as Social Security benefits) and file a return this year listing that income.

It sounds as if your helper prepared two returns on your behalf — the first, which did not include the amount of your Social Security benefits, and the second, which did.

You then received a notice in the mail from the IRS asking you to correct the first return. If that’s the case, you should respond to the notice, letting the IRS know what happened, Riley said.

Call the toll-free number listed on the notice to reach the IRS service center which is handling your matter. That IRS service center should be able to provide you with instructions on how to resolve your case, Riley said.

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