Individual stimulus checks of $ 600 to millions of people can now be tracked through the IRS’s “Get My Payment” website, which reopened Monday afternoon. The site informs people about the date of your payment and whether you will receive it by direct deposit or the date of payment by mail.
Still, there are some issues that delay payments of stimulus money and create confusion and questions for consumers. The main one: some people who filed tax returns for 2020 through tax makers like H&R Block may have sent their stimulus control directly to the tax firm, instead of their account banking.
This echoes one problem that affected the payment of the first stimulus control for some people who used tax preparation services and for whom the IRS had no information on direct deposits. With the second round of stimulus checks, a similar issue may affect some people, as H&R Block warns customers using a service called a refund transfer that they might see “an account number you don’t recognize” in the “Get it” section. my payment “. “website. According to H&R Block, refund transfers are offered to allow people to take advantage of the refund to pay their tax preparation expenses.
“But don’t worry, we sent these payments to the method you chose for the refund transfer: direct deposit, check or Emerald card. The money should be there at the end of the day,” H&R Block wrote Monday in the night.
H&R block, problems with TurboTax
Intuit TurboTax also on Tuesday he tweeted that some clients had trouble receiving their stimulus checks. “The IRS announced yesterday that because of the speed with which they issued this second round of payments, they sent some payments to an account that could be closed or no longer active,” the prep service said. ‘taxes.
TurboTax said financial institutions should return checks to the IRS, but those customers are likely to face a delay.
Some customers responded to social media that they had panicked after not receiving their funds as expected, and some expressed concern that they had been the victims of fraud.
Meanwhile, the IRS said Monday that direct deposits could take “several days” to be posted to individual accounts after the official Jan. 4 payday. He added that some people might see their stimulus checks as outstanding or as interim account payments.
Here’s what you need to know about tracking your payment.
How can I get my stimulus control?
The IRS says people will automatically get their payments in the second round of stimulus checks. One way to track the status of your payment is to visit the “Get my payment” site.
As with the first round, you will need to enter some personally identifiable information, such as your Social Security number, date of birth, and address. The site will then provide you with the status of the first and second stimulus payments.
What will “Get my payment” tell me?
The “Get My Payment” site will tell you about the date of payment and the method, which the IRS says will be the payment date by mail or the date of direct deposit into your bank account. Checks sent by mail will need more processing and shipping time, although the IRS did not specify how long it will take.
The IRS says it prioritizes direct deposit payments to people with valid routing and account information.
Can I change my bank account information?
The IRS says this option is not available this time because the tax agency issues the checks based on the information it has already registered since the first round of checks. In the first round of checks conducted under the Coronavirus Aid, Aid, and Financial Security Act (or CARES Act), people could enter or correct their bank account information on the “Get My Payment” site.
Still, this is not an option in the second round. “You will not be able to add routing or new account information and will not be able to request to receive your payment by EIP card,” the IRS said Dec. 30.
What if the IRS sent the check to a closed account?
Because people can’t update their bank account information on the “Get my payment” site, they’re concerned that some checks may be sent to recently closed accounts. If this is the case, the IRS says it will have to wait until the 2020 tax returns are filed.
Stimulus checks are actually a tax credit that can be applied to annual tax returns, but that means people may be waiting weeks or even months for their incentive money to show up via the tax refund.
Why does it say “Payment not available”?
This was a message that frustrated many consumers in the first round of checks, and resulted in a number of issues, such as whether the IRS was still verifying whether a person qualified for a check.
Some people receive this message with the second round of stimulus checks, which the IRS says either means that the person does not meet the requirements for a check, such as if their income exceeds the eligibility threshold, or the IRS says it “was unable to issue an EIP 2 payment,” which is the IRS’s term for the second stimulus control.
The IRS said it may not be able to issue a second stimulus payment if it is still processing its most recent tax return.
What if I receive Social Security with my Direct Express debit card?
The IRS says people who receive government benefits such as Social Security, railroad retirement benefits, supplemental security income, or veterans’ benefits through Direct Express (a debit card that automatically receives payments) will receive their second stimulus checks deposited on this card.
But the IRS warned: “The bank information shown in Get My Payment will be a number associated with your Direct Express card and may be a number you do not recognize.”