IRS depositing some coronavirus stimulus checks into wrong bank accounts
If you think your check was sent to the wrong account, call your bank and verify it, the IRS says
Financial expert Chris Hogan says as Americans begin to receive their coronavirus relief checks, we should be in ‘conserve mode’ and avoid ‘any unnecessary spending.’
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Some Americans expressed concern Thursday that the Internal Revenue Service mistakenly sent their stimulus check deposits to the wrong bank account.
The Treasury Department and the IRS launched the "Get My Payment" tool that allowed people to track their payout. About 80 million people were expected to receive the deposit by Wednesday, the Treasury Department said.
But when some people submitted their contact information into the agency’s tracking portal, results would show that the money was scheduled to be deposited April 15 -- even though those individuals hadn’t seen the money arrive yet. In some scenarios, the last four digits of the bank account number associated with the deposit provided by the IRS didn’t match a bank account that people recognized.
HOW TO GET YOUR STIMULUS CHECK
“My stimulus got sent to the wrong account and it won’t let me update it despite you guys saying we could. I guess I’ll just get evicted,” one Twitter user wrote to the IRS on Wednesday.
“You sent my check to the wrong account number! I've had my account for years. Bank says there's nothing they can do. Now what? please advise,” another user wrote.
The IRS has advised those concerned that the payment may have been sent to the wrong account to check with your bank to verify it was received.
An IRS spokeswoman told USA Today, which first reported the news, that she hadn't heard anything about stimulus checks being deposited into the wrong bank accounts and would look into the matter.
If checks are sent to bank accounts that don't match the name of the person who is supposed to receive the money, the check should be rejected by the bank and returned to the IRS, the spokeswoman said.
"The payment isn't going to bounce back and just sit here,'' she said. "We will turn around and cut them a paper check and make sure they get their money.''
CORONAVIRUS STIMULUS CHECKS: WHO GETS MONEY AND WHEN?
The distributions are part of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed into law by President Trump at the end of March.
At the heart of the largest relief plan in recent memory is $1,200 checks for individuals who earn less than $75,000 annually, $2,400 for couples who earn less than $150,000 and $500 for every child. The payments are tapered for higher earners and phase out completely for individuals who earn more than $99,000 or couples who earn more than $198,000.
The cash is intended to blunt the financial pain for Americans caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which brought the economy grinding to a halt. In four weeks alone, more than 22 million Americans filed for unemployment, the Labor Department said Thursday. The record-shattering number is a stunning sign of the depth of the economic calamity inflicted by the virus outbreak.
If Americans did not file a 2019 or 2018 tax return, which will be used by the agency to calculate eligibility, the IRS has instructed them to file a “simple tax return,” with basic filing information like filing status, the number of dependents and bank information.