Update:

The IRS states that many Americans will be receiving their stimulus check in the form of a debit card that will be shipped out in the mail.

This will reportedly expedite the process for the payments to be received.

“To speed delivery of the payments to reach as many people as soon as possible the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service is sending payments out by prepaid debit card,” according to the IRS.

Millions of payments have already gone out and more should co to us to go out this month.

“These EIP Cards follow the millions of payments already made by direct deposit and the ongoing mailing of paper checks that are delivering the second round of Economic Impact Payments as rapidly as possible,” the IRS said.

The checks are also getting sent out in envelopes that look a little bit different.

So be sure to look out for these envelopes — I’ve provided a sample from the IRS so you’ll know what to expect.

Update:

If you filed your 2019 taxes with TurboTax, there is a good chance that your stimulus payment may have been delayed due to an IRS error.

The good news is that this error has been fixed and payments may start going out today to a lot of people who were affected by this error.

Some of these people noticed that their stimulus payments had been deposited into bank accounts that they did not recognize.

These bank accounts were “pass-through” accounts from previous years that customers no longer had access to and the IRS had erroneously deposited the payments into.

The IRS claimed that these mistakes occurred because of the speed that they were required to send out all of the stimulus checks.

You would hope for fewer errors given how much time they had to prepare for this moment but anytime you’re dealing with technology there is always room for something to go wrong so I will cut them some slack.

Now it appears that the issue has been fixed and the IRS is rerouting millions of payments to the correct bank accounts.

This error applies to those people who saw the infamous error message:

 “Payment Status #2 – Not Available.”

“We have been working tirelessly with the Treasury and IRS to get stimulus payments to our customers,” said TurboTax.

“We know how important these funds are for so many Americans, and we regret that an IRS error caused a delay.”

So if you filed with TurboTax and have not received your stimulus payment you may want to check your status again or simply just wait a few days to see if it comes in pretty quickly.

H/T

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Update:

If you recently checked the status of your stimulus check with the IRS Get My Payment Tool and received the message “Payment Status #2 – Not Available,” you will NOT receive a second stimulus check automatically.

Instead, you will have to wait until you file your 2020 taxes to receive the payment.

“The IRS advises people that if they don’t receive their Economic Impact Payment, they should file their 2020 tax return electronically and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their tax return to get their payment and any refund as quickly as possible,” notes the IRS.

The IRS still has not clarified exactly why this message is popping up for certain people, but it does seem to be very common for people who filed their 2019 taxes through H&R Block and TurboTax.

H/T

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Update:

When the first stimulus checks started going out last spring, there were a lot of glitches and wrinkles that needed to be smoothed out.

Some of the issues included stimulus checks getting sent to the wrong accounts and in some cases even to deceased individuals.

But many people believed that the process would be a lot smoother the second go round because the IRS had the privilege of working things out during the first run.

Unfortunately, we are starting to see complaints come in about a wide variety of issues.One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen is that those who received direct deposit last time are being told that they will have a check or debit card mailed to them this round.

As we know from the last go round, direct deposit was a much quicker route to receive the stimulus funds and so it could be a matter of months if the wrong payment method is used.

Another problem is that some are being told that they need to wait to file their 2020 federal income tax returns before their issues can be resolved. I’m not sure exactly what is causing that problem but I will update when I find out.

Others are complaining that the wrong bank accounts are now displaying for the second round of checks (there seems to be a link with H&R Block and this problem).

So just be warned that if things went smoothly the first time, you might encounter some issues the second round.If you are worried about your payment or just want to inquire about the status of it, you can always check it here.

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Update:

You can now check the status of your second stimulus check.

To check your status simply go to this IRS website.

Then click on “get my payment.”

You’ll then need to verify that you are properly using the IRS/government website by hitting the “ok” button.

Once you get passed that screen, you will need to input your Social Security number, Date of birth, and address. Then just hit continue and you should be able to view your payment information for the first check and for the second check.

Some people can already see the transaction for the second check but many others are still not seeing anything just yet.

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5/9/20 Update:

The IRS just announced a firm deadline for signing up for direct deposit. If you are currently awaiting a payment for a stimulus check and have not signed up for direct deposit, you only have a couple of more days to do so.

The IRS is allowing you to sign up for direct deposit until noon on Wednesday, May 13. I’m not sure what time zone they are using but I would assume they are using Eastern Standard Time (EST).

In order to sign up simply visit the Get My Payment site and provide all of your information such as your bank account number.

“We’re working hard to get more payments quickly to taxpayers,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “We want people to visit Get My Payment before the noon Wednesday deadline so they can provide their direct deposit information. Time is running out for a chance to get these payments several weeks earlier through direct deposit.”

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4/24/20 Original Article:

Many people still have not received their “Economic Impact Payment” aka stimulus funds.

Luckily, after a super rough start, the website for signing up for direct deposit and for checking your payment status seems to be working for many more people now. So if you have not had a chance to sign up for direct deposit, I suggest that you look into doing that now.

If you get the infamous “payment status not available” message, then consider trying again every morning and evening since it updates every day.

You should know that the site is scheduled to undergo maintenance over the next couple of days at night so that could also slow things down.

Be sure to have your adjusted gross income total from your last filing year along with how much you received or how much you owed. You will also need your bank account routing number and account number.

But if for some reason you have chosen not to sign up for direct deposit or you simply are not able to, below are the (week ending) dates that you can expect for the IRS to send out a paper check in the mail. The dates are based on your annual gross adjusted income that was reported to the IRS and they plan to send around 5 million checks out each week.

• Under $10,000: April 24
• $10,001 – $20,000: May 1
• $20,001 – $30,000: May 8
• $30,001 – $40,000: May 15
• $40,001 – $50,000: May 22
• $50,001 – $60,000: May 29
• $60,001 – $70,000: June 5
• $70,001 – $80,000: June 12
• $80,001 – $90,000: June 19
• $90,001 – $100,000: June 26
• $100,001 – $110,000: July 3
• $110,001 – $120,000: July 10
• $120,001 – $130,000: July 17
• $130,001- $140,000: July 24
• $140,001 – $150,000: July 31
• $150,001 – $160,000: August 7
• $160,001 – $170,000: August 14
• $170,001 – $180,000: August 21
• $180,001 – $190,000: August 28
• $190,001 – $198,000: September 4
• All Remaining checks: September 11

These are scheduled dates and could be subject to change.

Because they are issuing out paper checks based on income brackets, I would assume that the direct deposits would be sent out on the same basis. However, I am not sure about that.

It’s also worth mentioning that they are now discussing more stimulus checks that could come out on a continuing basis. For example, there are discussions about sending out $2,000 a month for as long as this coronavirus crisis lasts.

There are also proposed bills that could completely rework the payment system and allow for a more efficient process of distributing stimulus funds in the future. We will see if any of those actually come to be though.

H/T