Glitches prevent $1,200 stimulus checks from reaching millions of Americans

[Maeve]

Source: Washington Post

Many Americans woke up Wednesday expecting to find a payment of $1,200 or more from the U.S. government in their bank account, but instead they realized nothing had arrived yet — or the wrong amount was deposited. Parents of young children complained they did not receive the promised $500 check for their dependent children.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has instructed the Internal Revenue Service to get payments out as fast as possible to help offset the pain of losing jobs and shutting down businesses, but numerous glitches — affecting filers who used tax preparers, parents of dependent children and people with 2019 tax returns still to be processed — are delaying payments and causing confusion.

Several million people who filed their taxes via H&R Block, TurboTax and other popular services were unable to get their payments because the IRS did not have their direct deposit information on file, according to the Treasury, companies and experts.

The IRS launched a “Get My Payment” tool Wednesday for people to track the status of their payment and enter direct deposit information, but many who used it said they received a message saying “Payment Status Not Available,” a frustration that left them without answers.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/16/coronavirus-cares-stimulus-check/

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It isn't just a few of us....

[beachbumbob]

1. also "get my payment" tool will not work if you get SS or SSI

and should be made clear at the home page

[stopbush]

2. Not true. We get SS, but I was able to use the online tool to supply

our bank info to the IRS so they can do a DD.

[beachbumbob]

4. all income from SS,? as I know no one in my family who is on SS where that tool worked and it

does says they haven't address that yet

[stopbush]

26. No, we had other income.

[pandr32]

9. WE get SS and pension moneys

We file jointly and until last year always got a few hundred dollar refund. Now we get zero.
The questions asked to verify on the online tool included an either/or "did you receive a refund" and "did you owe money" so what to do? I clicked "refund" and on the next line where it asked the amount I wrote "0". I got an error message after clicking submit.
There must be others who do not receive refunds or owe taxes. What about us?
WE are left wondering what to do.

[stopbush]

12. We owed $3 for 2019.

A $4 change the other way would have given us a $1 refund, which would have meant we would have included our bank acct info on our return...which probably means we would have got our $ yesterday.

[pandr32]

49. Looks like many of us will have to wait and see what happens

No way to check.+

[Maeve]

6. From the WashPost article re: "Payment Status Not Available"

Frustrated taxpayers also took to Twitter to vent about their inability to track when and how they would be getting their money. Some posted an image of the message they received after entering their information: “Payment Status Not Available.”

There are a number of reasons the tool can’t check the status of a stimulus payment, the IRS said.

You aren’t eligible for a payment.
Your payment is based on your status as a Social Security, disability or Railroad Retirement beneficiary. In this case, the IRS will use your SSA or RRB Form 1099 payment information. Your payment information isn’t available on the Get My Payment tool.
You have not filed a 2018 or 2019 federal tax return.
You filed your 2019 return, but it hasn’t been fully processed.
You used the non-filers tool, but the information you entered is still being processed.
There’s a problem verifying your identity when answering the security questions.

[OKNancy]

15. I used the tool and I'm on SS

THat was yesterday. My message today says they will send it to my bank acct # xxxxx
Also that I will receive a letter.

[yellowdogintexas]

16. If you are receiving Social Security by direct deposit

does that count? I thought I read that it did.

[yellowdogintexas]

59. that was my understanding as well. We have both received our SS checks

by direct deposit since 2014. We also received a refund lf $36 whole dollars but we use Turbo Tax

[MontanaMama]

3. All of my employees got their checks yesterday.

I know I’m eligible but have received nothing yet. The get my payment tool doesn’t work for me either. Frustrating.

[underpants]

5. Good to hear

at least for them.

[MontanaMama]

8. Right?

I’m happy for them. I’ve still got a skeleton crew working behind our locked gates. No public in and out anymore. We are still filling orders received over the phone and shipping every day and limping along, thankfully. I actually got a PPP loan from the SBA so everybody gets paid even if they stay home. I have some part time folks who aren’t coming in but they get paid anyway. One of our part timers is older and he has mesothelioma...he NEEDS to be home. Another part timer is a college student who doesn’t make the best choices in terms of his social distancing...I want him to stay away and he’s still getting paid too.

[wryter2000]

18. You are a good employer

There are some out there.

What do you sell? Could people in CA order from you?

[MontanaMama]

25. Awww. Thanks for asking.

We manufacture and sell a product called Habitat Rock. It’s an artificial rock product made from polyurethane foam. It’s mostly used by taxidermists, museums, retail installations such as Cabela’s or Field and Stream stores but the interior decorative market has discovered us recently. Lots of people want that “outdoors inside” thing in their homes. Folks can create mountains, rock walls and rock habitats easily without using real rocks and hiring a mason and a crane to lift heavy boulders. My husband is a taxidermist and he looked for something like this for decades and a good product didn’t exist so he invented it in 2011. We took a second mortgage out on our house to start the business and I quit my job to take over bookkeeping, orders and shipping in 2013. It’s not in most people’s want list but if you need fake rocks, I’m your gal. I ship everywhere. I just sent 3 pallets of our stuff to Anchorage Alaska.

[dweller]

28. do you have a website

with product pics, prices etc ?

✌🏼

[steventh]

35. I believe the answer to your question is

https://habitatrock.com/

Lots of photos and prices as you requested.
By the way, I'm not related to the business owners.

[dweller]

37. cool

thanks
✌🏼

[MontanaMama]

43. Thanks for helping me out with that link.

I was busy shipping rocks there for a while and couldn't respond. I just sent a pallet of product to Edmonton, Alberta! I hope no one alerts on me...I'm not trying to sell anything. Just talking about doing business during these crazy days.

[wryter2000]

38. Link?

I don't know if I need that. It might look nice in my snake's cage.

[MontanaMama]

44. It might work fine for a snake enclosure.

All of our stuff can be sprayed up in a hard coat which makes it weather/water proof. I'll DM you the link to the site. I don't want to get busted for selling anything here on DU.

What kind of snake do you have?

[wryter2000]

45. Corn snake

Thanks for the pm. I should have thought of that.

[kimbutgar]

7. Remember how they flipped out by the ACA website rollout?

Seems quaint now!

[Bengus81]

34. I do,it was all the Obama/Guberment haters could talk about........

Guess they couldn't figure out in their pea brains that it was crashing because of the sheer volume of people wanting to sign up and be a part of the ACA.

Duhhhhh..............

[Grasswire2]

10. the glitch for SS isn't just that the "Get My Payment" site doesn't work for them.

It's that many did not get the payment in the direct deposit account set up and managed by SS.

UsDirectExpress.com.

That's where SS direct deposits to a Mastercard.

[beachbumbob]

19. we all have ALL have DD to our bank accounts and none of us got the tool to work as stated

[Grasswire2]

11. and it does not explain the message saying "cannot confirm eligibility"

....which millions of people are also getting.

[wryter2000]

14. That's probably default, no? n/t

n/t

[DeminPennswoods]

29. That's what the message I got

too.

[wryter2000]

13. I use TurboTax

And I got mine. The Social Security Administration has my bank information, but they weren't sending the money.

to those who didn't get the money.

[shotten99]

17. Get My Payment doesn't accept my address

It says my address is not the same as what they have on file, even though I double checked it against my 2019 and 2018 returns.

[Grasswire2]

21. were you expecting to get a paper check? or DD.

Because the address of a DD shouldn't matter. I have heard that it doesn't accept AVE for Avenue, for example. But that shouldn't matter for DD.

[shotten99]

23. I live overseas....

I am expecting a paper check, but I still have an American checking account that I did use with this IRS some 15 years ago.

[LittleGirl]

36. we live abroad too

but we have a couple of US bank accounts and have filed every year. Do you have someone in the states that can get the check to you?
or do you have a bank there?

[shotten99]

39. I've filed every year, too

But always used form 2555 for foreign income inclusion and didn't qualify for a refund. The IRS has my address here in Germany, but I still have an American checking account. I think they should eventually mail it here?

[LittleGirl]

40. If you have a US bank

You just need an address in the states
1. For your bank
2. For the IRS address that matches the address the bank has on file.

They need to match. We use a family member’s address for both. It’s helpful for refunds and purchases too.

[LittleGirl]

41. I forgot

If they send a paper check, you can just ask your family member to deposit it at the bank for you. The bank may hold the amount (for up to 10 days) but it clears. No signature needed. Have your person take a photo of each side and send them to you.

[shotten99]

52. Online banking is great for this

My credit union back home has an option that accepts photographs of checks as a means of deposit.
I'm more concerned with why the IRS isn't accepting my requests online after accepting my submissions from 2019 and earlier with my address :/

[LittleGirl]

54. Ya know

hubby has been checking the bank so I told him to go to irs.gov and he’s had no results either.
Maybe by Monday next week, all this is resolved. Good luck.

[shotten99]

61. I just got my check in the mail today!

If you guys are getting stuck, contact your home state Senator or Congressperson. I contacted Sen Tammy Baldwin in WI and a week later, here's my check.

[LittleGirl]

62. Yup, it delivered last week! eom

[greenjar_01]

20. I'm sure the people that mocked the roll out of the Affordable Care Act

will behave consistently on this blerp-de-gerp wargle-bargle just kidding.

[Marrah_Goodman]

22. Tool doesn't work for me. I only have ssdi income.

I was really down yesterday when i realized it will probably be at least another week.

[DAMANgoldberg]

24. Same here

👎🏾. Also, this is ducky intentional If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands. -Douglas Adams

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/douglas_adams_136658

[Turin_C3PO]

27. Same here.

My only income is SSDI and I have no idea when to expect my stimulus.

[progree]

30. Some stimulus checks are being sent to wrong accounts: 'The bank account number is not even close'

Some stimulus checks are being sent to wrong accounts: 'The bank account number is not even close', USA Today, 4/16/20

... It's unclear how many people this happened to, though many reached out to the IRS on Twitter to get answers.

IRS spokeswoman Jodie Reynolds told USA TODAY she hadn't heard anything about stimulus checks being deposited into the wrong bank accounts and would look into the matter.

... The events unfolded in a similar manner for several of the people who reached out to the IRS via Twitter. They would submit their contact information into the government's payout tracking portal, and the results would show that the money was scheduled to be deposited April 15.

But the digits didn't match a bank account people were familiar with.

... Thomas Krapin, 25, of New York City planned on using some of the money to cover rent. As soon as the deposit information popped up on the website, he "freaked out."

"Once I pressed submit, the account number that they listed didn't match any of mine. I called my bank and there was nothing they could do. There was no connection to my account," Krapin said.

[Matthew28]

31. No 1,200 yet

I am on SSD Neither for my mom that receives the same.

[Galraedia]

47. I'm pretty sure they're hoping we die.

I have direct deposit with SSI and still haven't received the federal relief check. All I have right now is $6 dollars. I can't afford any masks but have managed to go a month in complete isolation without talking to anyone.

[TalenaGor]

32. add me to the bunch - havent recieved anything yet

and that get my payment portal isnt working for me either

[yellowdogintexas]

60. We do not have ours either and the tracking tool can't find us

We have been receiving SS checks by direct deposit since 2014

[Joinfortmill]

33. It's a phuck up a minute for this Administration.

[SergeStorms]

42. It's the Trump administration.......

why would anyone expect anything differently? Trump has left thousands of governmental positions unfilled, and those that he did put in place are there, not because they're qualified, but because they're loyal to Trump. Most have no idea how to do the jobs the were charged with filling.

THE ENTIRE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS BEING RUN BY COMPLETE IDIOTS! Yet people are still surprised?

[LiberalFighter]

46. I receive SS and there was a deposit in my bank account yesterday.

I used TurboTax (not the online version) last year to file.

[royable]

48. No payment yet for us, and no clue as to why.

We filed last year, haven't yet filed this year, using TurboTax. We owed the IRS money last year and paid it from our bank's savings account, which has not changed.

On the "Get My Payment" Website, I entered the first page of info: SSN, DOB, street address and ZIP code, and get this message:

Payment Status Not Available
According to information that we have on file, we cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time.
For more information on the eligibility rules, see our Frequently Asked Questions page.

I've been getting the same message for the last day since I first checked, until I finally got the message

Please Try Again Later
We are unable to provide you with the status of your payment or perform the action requested because:
The tax return information you entered does not match our records; or
You have already accessed the system the maximum number of times today.
Please come back after 24 hours and try again.

The FAQ page does not address our situation. And I hate the vagueness of the message. (What IS the information they have on file? Why can they not determine our eligibility?) If they can't determine our eligibility, does that mean that we won't get either a direct deposit payment OR a check later on?

[TexasBushwhacker]

51. That's what I got too

I had to pay last year because I owed self employment tax on the part time job that was helping me to squeak by on SSDI. This year I got a refund because I changed jobs and got a W2. I filed my taxes 10 days ago with my bank account for direct deposit, but they already had my bank account to deposit my SSDI. So I don't know what the hold up is.

[renate]

50. I posted a thread on this last night because I couldn't find anything online about any hitches

Many many thanks to all the people who were kind enough to reply!

We do direct deposit and TurboTax; the article says that TurboTax users couldn't get their payments because the IRS doesn't have their direct deposit payments on file, but it has ours.

I'm not glad we're not alone, but I'm a little reassured, I guess. I just feel absolutely sick for the people who need it as in buying groceries need it.

[Hotler]

53. Payment tool kicked me out saying...

my S.S. number didn't match..... ???????

[maddogesq]

57. Lots of confusing stuff...

I receive SSD, but also file returns and paid tax via auto draft.

On the main page it says SSA and RRB 1099 recipients can’t use use the payment tool, but in the frequently asked questions section it says they can if they filed returns

I tried the tool and it said I was eligible but they had no bank info. I left it alone thinking it will revert to SSA.

Cluster fuck...

[sarcasmo]

55. Glitches is the new word for Stupidity?

[RobinA]

56. Shouldn't We Be Reminding Them

of their constant hate-spew when the Obamacare website got of to a slow start? In fact, I thought I heard Trump mention that not too long ago.

[Totally Tunsie]

58. Just more of the same.

Mnuchin is directing those who haven't received their payment yet to go to irs.gov and "Get My Payment". Problem is using the "Get My Payment" link gets me to "Technical Error. Service not available at this time."

Does this administration ever deliver???