The U.S. government sent around 80 million economic stimulus checks Wednesday to people all over the United States, and also, it appears, to those who have died in the past year.
Several people have reported that recently deceased family members were sent the checks intended to give Americans some help as the economy spirals following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IRS declined to comment on the delivery of checks to people who have died.
The agency used tax returns from 2018 and 2019, along with Social Security benefits information to determine who gets a check and to send that check out.
Gordon Gray, director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum, a conservative policy research group told Market Watch that such errors are to be expected when it comes to money being sent quickly to such a large number of people.
“Congress erred on the side of speed, which nearly everyone agreed was the right answer in this case,” Gray said.
“The mechanisms we have to get money to people mean that some people have died since they last interacted with Treasury and as far as Treasury knows, that person should get a check.”
The payments will include $1,200 checks to adults who filed their income tax under the classification of “single” who had an adjusted gross income below $75,000 and those who filed as “head of household” with an AGI of less than $112,500.
Married couples who filed taxes jointly and made less than $150,000 will receive $2,400.
In addition, the government will pay all classifications of filers an additional $500 per dependent child.
The 80 million stimulus payments deposited into their checking accounts Wednesday is part of the economic stimulus plan passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month.
The IRS told Americans to check their bank accounts to look for the deposit, and that if they did not find a deposit, to go to the newly launched IRS website called “Get my payment” to see the status of their payment.
People across the country complained Wednesday that they were receiving error messages when they tried to find out about their payments. The system showed a “Payment Status Not Available” message on Wednesday.
The IRS said in a statement that the system was working with more than 6.2 million taxpayers who were able to see their payment status, and nearly 1.1 million taxpayers provided banking information to move their payments along.
The agency said that If the site volume gets too high, users are funneled to a “waiting room” until they can get back into the online tool.
A Social Security number, date of birth and mailing address is needed to use the tool. If you want to submit information to have money deposited into an account you will have to have the adjusted gross income on their most recent tax return, as well as the amount of their most recent refund or amount owed.
If you receive a “Payment Status Not available” message it could be for other reasons, according to the IRS website. Here is what could be happening if you see the message:
- You are not eligible for a payment
- You are required to file a tax return and have not filed in tax year 2018 or 2019
- You recently filed your return or provided information through Non-Filers: Enter Your Payment Info on IRS.gov
- You are an SSA or RRB Form 1099 recipient, SSI or VA benefit recipient.
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