The relief money issued by the federal government is not subject to tax. If you receive a letter from the IRS, don’t throw it away. (Photo is from Associated Press)

(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao January 9, 2022)  To assist taxpayers in filing last year’s federal income tax, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to send a letter related to the third bailout check issued by the government in 2021 starting later this month; the public is expected to receive this letter in the next few weeks. Don't be surprised when the time comes, and don't discard this letter.

The IRS press release stated that the letter labeled "Your Third Economic Impact Payment" No. 6475 will specify the bail-out amount received in 2021 and any additional payments (plus-up payments); "These letters can assist taxpayers or their tax professionals to prepare 2021 federal tax returns."

Taxpayers can use it to determine whether they can apply for a "recovery rebate credit" when they file their 2021 tax bill. If they are eligible for the third bail-out payment, but the actual amount received is different from the amount stated on the above IRS letter, this credit can be used to make up the difference.

There is no tax deduction for bail-out cheque income, but it still needs to be declared in the 2021 tax return.

The 2021 relief check has been issued to eligible recipients since March last year. Eligible people and each family member can receive as much as $1,400 in relief funds; if those who are eligible for the issuance but do not receive relief funds, or changes in personal status, such as giving birth to a child in 2021, may also be eligible for more bailout money.

At the same time, many families may have received or will soon receive another letter regarding the 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC). Letter No. 6419 will contain important information about CTC payments; for example, how much money the whole family has received in advance, and how many eligible children are credited to the account each month.

The IRS stated that “family receiving these advance payments should check the amount of advance payment they received in 2021 with the child tax credit mentioned in the letter from the IRS in order to declare the correct amount in 2021.”

Eligible families who have not received the advance payment can claim this amount when paying taxes this year.

(Source: World Journal)

Air China announced on the 6th that the CA988 flight from Los Angeles to Beijing will be fused for nearly three months from January 9 to March 6, and all eight flights will be cancelled. (File picture from World Journal)

Overseas Chinese now want to go back to China and it is likely that the Winter Olympics will be over! Air China announced on the 6th that the CA988 flight from Los Angeles to Beijing will be cut off for nearly three months from January 9 to February 27, and all eight flights will be cancelled. Some Chinese boarded a plane from Florida to Los Angeles on the 6th, preparing to fly from Los Angeles to Beijing. Only when they landed did they know that flight CA988 had been cancelled.

Air China flight CA988 suddenly announced on the 6th that it would cut off flights on January 9, 16, 23, and 30, and February 6, 18, 20, and 27. This means that there will be no planes flying from Los Angeles to Beijing from January to February. The reason is that there are too many people diagnosed on the plane, which triggers the cancellation. According to China's cancellation standards, five to nine people are diagnosed with partial cancellation, and ten to 29 people are full cancellation. The operation will be suspended for four weeks from the fourth week after entry.

The flight cancellation came out as a shock. In fact, a few days ago, the number of people diagnosed on Air China flight CA988 had triggered a full cancellation, but no one expected the full cancellation occurred so quickly, and the predication was it would take two months to completely cancel the flight. Some air ticketing operators were too busy on the 6th and kept making phone calls to help customers change their tickets. To make matters worse, someone just got on the plane from Florida to Los Angeles and received the news of the cancellation of the ticket on January 9th. The news of Air China's flight cancellation was given too late, and the ticket money was spent in vain.

The airline ticket operator, Mr. Yan, pays close attention to the number of confirmed cases in the Chinese destination cities of the flight, and he probably predicted which flight will be cancelled, and he corrected it before the news came out. He said that there are fewer and fewer flights from Los Angeles to China. Although Air China's flights from Los Angeles to Shenzhen are not officially cancelled, there are basically no flights before March. China Southern Airlines' flights from Los Angeles to Guangzhou are also expected to be cancelled for four weeks every Sunday.

Some netizens also joked that when the first resumed flight of Air China CA988 could take off, the Winter Olympics had just ended, which perfectly spanned the Spring Festival and the Winter Olympics. The implication is, don't come back for the New Year and don't come back to watch the Winter Olympics.

According to people familiar with the matter, the recent series of new policies on flight cancellation and dual detection by the Chinese government are mainly due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. After this wave of epidemics, there should be more flights after the Winter Olympics.

(Source: Compiled from World Journal)

The Regeneron Science Award announced the semi-finalists in 2022, with Chinese high school students accounting for over 30%. (Photo taken from the competition official website)

The Regeneron STS, known as the "Junior Nobel Prize", announced on the 6th the list of semi-finalists in 2022. Among the 300 students, there are more than 100 Chinese American high school students, accounting for Over 30%, and two other shortlisted students are from Shenzhen, China, and Singapore. The shortlisted Chinese students are mainly from New York, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Victoria, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Washington, Pennsylvania, Texas, and other places. This time, 1,805 students from 603 high schools participated in the competition, covering 46 states in the United States, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and eight other countries. Students were evaluated based on their scientific research ability, academic investment, vision of becoming a scientist, and innovative thinking. The 300 finalists were selected from 185 high schools from 37 U.S. states as well as China, Switzerland, and Singapore. Among the top 300 Chinese American students, 26 are from New York State, 24 from California, 10 from New Jersey, nine from Massachusetts, four from Victoria, and three from Texas, Maryland, Washington State, Florida, and North Carolina respectively. Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Oregon, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Colorado, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona, Mississippi, Michigan, Utah, and Nevada, one each, one from Shenzhen, China, and one from Singapore. The 300 shortlisted students and their schools will each receive a bonus of $2,000. The 40 finalists will be announced on January 20 and will compete for more than $1.8 million in bonuses from March 10 to 16. The Regeneron Science Award is the highest and most competitive science competition for high school students in the United States. It is also the oldest science competition for high school students in the United States. It has attracted much attention from the Chinese community. This science award is a project of the non-profit organization Society for Science & the Public. (Source: Compiled from World Journal)

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 300 million today. Getty Images

The number of global cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) has surpassed 300 million today, according to official figures from Agency France-Presse. (Photo from World Journal)

Since the outbreak of the epidemic was reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) China branch in late December 2019, the cumulative number of cases worldwide has reached 342,439.

Omicron, a new variant of COVID-19 that was first discovered in Botswana and South Africa, has been spreading rapidly since the end of last year.

Omicron brings 4th wave of coronavirus, with many countries reporting new highs of infections.

In the past week, there were 13.5 million new cases of infection worldwide, a 64% increase from the previous week, with an average of 1,938,395 new cases per day.

Thirty-four countries in the world recorded new infections in a single week, of which eight were in Europe, seven in Africa, and six in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The U.S., Canada, and Australia also all have record highs

(Source: Compiled from online information)