Edited by: JV Staff
Seems like a significant number of Americans are still awaiting their economic stimulus payments and are getting antsy over the delay because of lack of money to pay basic expenses.
This week, President Trump took to Twitter to tell people of the Internal Revenue Service’s “Get My Payment” tool on the agency’s web site. According to a CNN report, the president told people to click on the button that says “receive your money FAST.”
According to the CNN report, people will be asked to put in basic information about themselves then the tool can tell users when they will receive their payment and how it will arrive to them. It also lets people update bank account information so that the IRS can send a direct deposit rather than a check, speeding up the payment process.
The National Taxpayer Advocate service reports that the IRS has already $207 billion to Americans in 122 million payments, according to the CNN report. The bad news is that 28 million people are still waiting for their promised money.
The problem with the Get My Payment tool on the IRS web site is that people going there leave frustrated because they receive a “cryptic status message” and the IRS has no staff to field phone calls as they have shuttered their call center due to the spread of the coronavirus, as was reported by CNN.
CNN reports that the Get My Payment tool is updated each day and that people should continue to check the site.
For those people who continue to get a message that states, ‘payment status not available’ it could be for a number of reasons.
CNN has reported that it could mean that some people don’t qualify because they earn too much money. Undocumented workers, including those who pay taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, are also ineligible, as well as anyone who can be claimed as a dependent for tax purposes, like many college students, as was reported by CNN.
This status could also mean that the IRS is still processing a person’s 2019 tax return or that the agency has not added your data to the tool yet.CNN reported that people who receive Supplemental Income or Veterans Affairs benefits might be getting this message because their information was not uploaded to the tool. But they will likely be sent their money later in May.
If a person gets a ‘need more information’ message on the web site it means that you do qualify for a payment but that the IRS does not have your bank account information on file, according to the CNN report. The tool will prompt you to input that information. If you don’t, a paper check will be sent to you to an address the agency has on file from a 2019 or 2018 tax return, as was reported by CNN.
The IRS suggests checking your most recent tax return to make sure the data matches, as well as trying a different way to type in your street address. For example, try “123 North Main St” instead of “123 N Main St.”
Other people are receiving a message that says ‘You’re eligible, but no payment date is available.’ This means that a person is eligible to receive a payment from the IRS but a payment date has not been scheduled as of yet.
CNN has reported that this could possibly mean that you recently uploaded your bank account information to the IRS site. If you enter the information before noon on Tuesday, your payment date should be available on Saturday. If it’s after noon on Tuesday, you’ll have to wait at least another week, according to the CNN report.
