 effort to be there for your baby. That, they will notice.
What preparations do you think are most important?
Read more of Madeline’s writing at Uber Chic for Cheap.
And don’t miss a post! Follow Madeline on Twitter and Facebook.The Treasury Department and IRS sent almost 1.1 million coronavirus stimulus payments, totaling almost $1.4 billion, to dead people as of April 30, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) paper released Thursday reported.
"Treasury and IRS did not use the death records to stop payments to deceased individuals for the first three batches of payments because of the legal interpretation under which IRS was operating," GAO said. The watchdog was provided the figure about the number and dollar amount of payments sent to dead people by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
The payments sent to deceased individuals are small when compared to the overall number of payments made. Treasury and the IRS have distributed about 160 million payments totaling nearly $270 billion as of May 31, according to the GAO report.
President Trump Donald John TrumpDavis: Supreme Court decision is bad news for Trump, good news for Vance Meadows trying to root out suspected White House leakers by feeding them info: Axios Pressley hits DeVos over reopening schools: 'I wouldn't trust you to care for a house plant let alone my child' MORE signed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, known as the CARES Act, in late March that provided for one-time direct payments for most Americans of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. The payments have been a key source of relief as people have faced challenges covering their expenses due to the pandemic. Tax experts have praised the IRS for getting the payments to people quickly.
The IRS made payments to most people based on their 2018 or 2019 tax returns. The agency has also made payments based on statements related to certain federal benefits and information provided to the agency through an online web tool for people who typically aren't required to file tax returns.
IRS officials told GAO that a working group at the agency first raised the issue of whether payments should be sent to deceased individuals when Congress was drafting the CARES Act.
The IRS's counsel determined that the IRS didn't have the legal authority to deny payments for people who filed a tax return in 2019, even if they were now deceased, and that the agency should apply the same processing rules for people who had filed a 2018 tax return but hadn't yet filed a 2019 return. As a result, deceased individuals weren't initially excluded from getting payments in the IRS's programming, GAO said.
Treasury officials told GAO that the IRS was directed under the CARES Act to issue the direct payments as quickly as possible, so during the first three batches of payments, the IRS relied on many procedures it used to distribute rebates in 2008, which did not filter out people based on death records. One Treasury official told GAO that the department was not aware that payments would go to dead people until there were media reports on the topic.
When Treasury learned that payments had been made to dead people, Treasury and the IRS determined that people are not entitled to a payment if they are dead at the time the payment is made, and Treasury instructed the IRS to stop issuing payments to deceased individuals, according to the GAO report. The report says that the stimulus payments to dead people could be considered improper payments under a 2019 law.
On May 6, the IRS updated a frequently asked questions page to add that stimulus payments sent to deceased individuals should be returned. GAO said that the IRS doesn't currently plan to take further steps to notify ineligible recipients about how to return payments, and the watchdog encouraged the IRS to consider cost-effective notification options. The IRS has agreed with this recommendation, according to the report.
GAO said that the IRS has access to the Social Security Administration's full set of death records, but that Treasury and the department's Bureau of Fiscal Service do not. The Bureau of Fiscal Service distributes payments.
GAO recommended that Congress provide Treasury with access to the full set of death records and that the department consistently uses the records in an effort to reduce improper payments.
GAO's examination of the relief payments is one part of a broader report about the federal government's response to the coronavirus. The watchdog said that it is currently doing additional work to evaluate the administration of the payments.
UPDATED ON 28 JUNE 2020 - This article is only to provide general information and was published before tthe lockdown. Please check ahead for details of restrictions, operating limitations and any other information.
Apparently, there are many New Yorkers who are wistful about the pastoral wilds of upstate NY in summer months; and they ask themselves the question, where’s the delicious blueberry picking near me? Where do I find the farms? Is it July yet?
What is it about blueberry picking that makes it a desirable experience?
For one thing, blueberry picking is not something that you do in a British garden with an itty-bitty, bijou basket carried in the crook of an untaxed elbow. It’s back breaking work and not under the greatest conditions.
Typically, it’s cold when you arrive at a farm market in the morning and it gets hot in the afternoon. And probably so hellishly humid it makes you long for winter. The litany of discomfort includes bending over, stooping, kneeling, squatting, sitting and waving one’s hands to ward off the bugs. Oh yes, there are bugs in the fields. Horseflies, like bandersnatches, are known to bite through clothing. Lesser creepies like the mosquitoes, ticks and blackflies might not.
And then, with all the bending and picking and plunking and dislodging the wasp, the next morning you are sore, your arms hurt and your back is decidedly orthopaedically challenged. And of course, sunburn. Unless you covered yourself and cocooned yourself from the elements you set out to experience from your blueberry picking near me pursuit.
The business of the berry pick has even inspired evocative poetry, including this one from the poet laureate, Seamus Heaney, (despite his alluring reference to a rat-grey fungus).
And yet, people love to go blueberry picking. There are family farms like Lewin Farms and Alstede Farms.
There’s something about being connected to our food that inspires us. It’s why we like cooking shows on TV and recipe videos online. It’s why we like looking at images of vegetable markets with overflowing tubs of produce and berries - blueberries and raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and other pickable fruit like apples and sweet cherries.
This why so many New York City residents make the hike to a U-Pick farm in upstate New York, June through August, to spend a day picking whatever is in season following the quest for a “strawberry patch near me”. And, depending on the time of year and in geo-specific crusades for, blueberry picking near me, apple picking near me, apple orchards near me, U-Pick farms near me, strawberry patch near me and in fall, pumpkin picking near me - the business of gathering being more socially acceptable form of hunting; nothing more primal and human than to eat what you kill. Or pick. The farms offering picking, stomping, ice cream, and farm animals for the kids to pet.
At the time of this writing, it is June. And blueberry picking starts about now - early July and August being the season for it. And upstate New York is replete with “u pick farms” where to pick blueberries is the order of a sun drenched day.
This website has quite a list of places to pick blueberries. A list of over 200 blueberry / strawberry farms, in fact. You can go to this search result page and then narrow down your search to find the “berry farm near me” - just pick the region closest to you.
And if you like getting out there picking blueberries in places more exotic than Whole Foods, you’ll enjoy the bugs, the heat, the drizzles and even an itinerant wasp. And of course, the joy of popping into your mouth, the first of many blueberries that have just soaked in the sun.
Blueberries are high in nutritional value, low in calories and rich in antioxidants.
Blueberries have 80 calories per cup, and one serving supplies 25 percent of the recommended values for vitamin C and manganese, as well as four grams of fiber.
Blueberries have a low glycemic index, which is good news for diabetics cautious about eating fruit.
The are native to North America.
The blue color of the skin comes from anthocyanins, which may help reduce the risk of cancer.
We are pleased to announce Mr Yum has formed a global integrations partnership with award-winning point of sale platform, Epos Now.
Mr Yum’s direct integration with Epos Now now allows venus to seamlessly sync items from their POS to create and easily update their Mr Yum menu, complete with images, dietary filters, language translations, specials and upsells.
This integration means customer orders through Mr Yum flow directly into Epos Now quickly, easily and securely.
A point of sale solution created for hospitality and retail, Epos Now is trusted by more than 30,000 businesses across Australia and the UK and is a winner of the prestigious Queen’s Award for Innovation - the UK’s highest official award for British businesses.
Among its many industry-leading innovations, Epos Now created the UK’s first POS app store,