5 On Your Side interviewed Saint Louis University law professor and taxation expert Henry Ordower to explain the answer to this common question

ST. LOUIS — Several 5 On Your Side viewers have asked our Verify team about if stimulus checks will have to be paid back.

Connie Morris specifically asked: “Would like to know if the stimulus checks are an advancement on our next year’s taxes? Will they be deducted from our tax refunds?”

5 On Your Side interviewed Saint Louis University law professor and taxation expert Henry Ordower to answer this question.

Ordower said according to the $2.2 trillion relief package known as the CARES Act, the answer is “no.”

But, Ordower said people have good reason to be confused.

He said the U.S. government is labeling stimulus checks as a tax credit.

"Theoretically, the government could have simply provided a subsidy. It could have simply mailed checks to U.S. taxpayers. Instead, it decided to use the existing tax infrastructure and in order to get it to fit into the tax infrastructure, it had to play a few games with definitions. So, that’s why it’s done the way it’s being done,” said Ordower.

Bottom line is- the cash from stimulus checks is yours to keep. Ordower confirms there are no strings attached.

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