So, I go to the IRS’s “Get My Payment” page to find out when my stimulus payment is being deposited into the bank account I gave them three weeks ago, for direct deposit.
Response: YOUR PAYMENT IS SCHEDULED TO BE DEPOSITED (Today’s Date) INTO ACCOUNT ENDING IN XXXX”
One tiny problem: I have no idea what account that is, because it’s not mine. I’ve never seen those last 4 numbers before.
So I spend a couple of hours going through every conceivable possibility — and to spare you the details of all of my efforts, which, needless to say, involved a lot of phone-work (including confirming that there was no fraud activity or human error on my part), I discover this article — a story which is starting to be reported on, thankfully — and needs to be blasted like a megaphone:
STIMULUS PAYMENTS BEING SENT TO WRONG ACCOUNTS
Apparently, it’s happening all over the country. Not to everyone, of course — but to enough stimulus-awaiting (and -needing) Americans that it’s starting to develop into a big problem.
“Many people have attempted to reach out to the IRS to resolve the issue. However, it doesn't seem the agency is quick to respond or provide any clarification according to many tweets that have poured in on Wednesday morning. One user reached out to her local news stations to report the matter, "The IRS sent my stimulus check to the wrong bank account, anyone else reporting to you guys? Since I can’t reach, them maybe the news can."
And here’s what doesn’t make any sense: according to all reports, the IRS was only supposed to be using the accounts they have on file for individual taxpayers from the last TWO years (2018/2019) — OR — using the direct deposit info you uploaded to them for the stimulus payment to be deposited into, through either Turbo Tax’s stimulus portal or the IRS’s own stimulus portal.
After ruling out *every* other possibility, following the exhaustive phone-work mentioned above, only two options remain:
1) The IRS sent my stimulus payment to a stranger’s account — which would seem unlikely, but I guess that *could* happen as a screw-up, theoretically, although that seems like it wouldn’t be as widespread as this problem is.
2) That the IRS is ignoring a lot of the new accounts being sent to them for this stimulus payment for some reason — and ignoring the “two year” limit laid out in the CARES Act — and using long-dead accounts that people had years ago — so the money is simply DISAPPEARING into accounts that people no longer have any access to — or in many cases, even remember.
And the kicker: there appears to be, at least for now, no way to fix it — because there’s no ability to speak to a human being on the IRS’s line, and those who have gotten through (somehow) are told that the IRS phone agents can’t even discuss it.
Posting this here because it appears to be happening to a lot of people across the country — and the IRS needs to be aware of it. I honestly have no idea how they would even solve this. Create a page where you can say, “You Sent My Payment To the Wrong Account”? And if they did — how does it get retrieved and sent to the right one? Would they have to pay out an entirely new $1,200? Hopefully it will be resolved at some point, if the issue gets some traction.
If this has happened to you, like it’s happening to so many others right now, please comment below.
Thanks.
EDIT: Appreciate the rec’s, just wanted to make sure people heard about this, so if it’s happening to them too, they know they’re not alone.