The Internal Revenue Service started mailing rebates, or "economic stimulus" checks, last Friday, a process that will continue through July 11, according to the agency. Tax filers using direct deposit should have received their rebates.

"I've seen some people who have indicated they have not received their rebate," said Bill Dunlap, manager of Liberty Tax Service's Bellevue office, which prepared about 1,200 tax returns this year. "But in most cases, it's a misunderstanding of the program."

For example, Staci Weaver of Greensburg said she hoped to get $900 in her economic stimulus check but got only $300. Weaver had counted on claiming her 17-year-old daughter as a dependent, as she had done on her federal income tax filing, but found out a 17-year-old is not considered a dependent for purposes of the economic stimulus check.

"That's the government for you," Weaver said.

The U.S. government is distributing $150 billion in economic stimulus payments to about 130 million Americans in hopes they will spend the money and help boost the nation's sputtering economy. Anyone earning at least $3,000 a year is eligible to receive one.

The rebates give single people between $300 and $600 and married couples between $600 and $1,200, provided they filed a 2007 federal income tax return by the April 15 deadline. The rebate begins to phase out for single filers earning more than $75,000 and for joint filers earning at least $150,000.

"It's very difficult to know what a person is entitled to because you don't know their tax situation," said David Stewart, the agency's spokesman in Philadelphia.

A small percentage of those 130 million wage earners, however, should have gotten their rebates and haven't. Pennsylvania has about 5.6 million to 5.8 million tax filers, he said.

The IRS directed about 1,500 payments to the wrong bank accounts, Stewart said.

"We're working on straightening that out," he said.

About 350,000 people believed they were due the additional $300 rebate for a dependent but failed to check the IRS form's box to claim him or her, he said. Other filers may have used tax-preparation software that did not properly flag to the IRS they were claiming a dependent, said Liberty Tax Service spokeswoman Martha O'Gorman.

"As a firm, we have not had any issues yet with clients not receiving (rebate) payments or full payments," said Susan Delvell, tax manager for Alpern Rosenthal & Co., a public accounting firm Downtown.

Still other people will not get a full rebate, or any rebate, because of other debts, Delvell said. The government deducts from tax rebates and refunds amounts owed for back taxes and overdue payments for child support or student loans.

The IRS hotline for tax rebate questions -- 866-234-2942 -- was out of service [May 19], due to "brief technical difficulties," a recording said. It began working again later in the day.