IRS slow to tell taxpayers how to get stimulus checks: People ‘need these payments ASAP’
The Internal Revenue Service has not released information on how people should prepare to get the checks Congress promised when it passed a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package last week.
The IRS says it will deposit your stimulus check to your bank account or mail it to your address based on your 2019 or 2018 filed tax return. But if you need to change or update your information – ensuring you’ll receive it sooner and in the right place – they have no answers on how to fix that yet.
The checks should be $1,200 for most adults and $500 for most dependents. At the section of the IRS website meant for coronavirus updates, which the IRS has directed people to visit, it specifically says there is no new information on the checks.
“Stimulus payment checks: No information available yet, No sign-up needed,” the top of the website says. “Instead of calling, please check back for updates.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday there would be an online tool to allow Americans to more quickly access the direct payments enacted by Congress last week. He’s said the payments should make it to most Americans within three weeks.
California Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, wrote a letter to Mnuchin Monday, saying he’s received a lot of concerns from constituents about how to make sure they receive those checks sooner rather than later. Harder wrote that many of his constituents have moved since they’ve filed their taxes and need to update their addresses or provide direct deposit information.
But none know how to do that yet, and the IRS has not provided answers on how to do so.
“People in my district are struggling to make ends meet and need these payments ASAP. The Senate passed this almost a week ago and the IRS has had all that time in between to come up with a plan. If they have one, they should share it with the rest of us. If not, it’s time to get in gear,” Harder said in a statement. “Normal bureaucrat speed won’t work during a pandemic.”
When Harder’s office reached out to the IRS to get answers directly, an IRS employee directed them to the web page that currently says it has no information.
“If a staffer of a Congressional office cannot get an answer to a basic question, how is any other American expected to get answers to questions regarding their payments?” Harder wrote to Mnuchin.
In the letter, Harder asks Mnuchin when an online tool to update information related to the checks will become available how constituents can update their address or direct deposit information and when the small business loan program will be up and running.
Neither the IRS nor Mnuchin’s office responded to requests for comment.
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "IRS slow to tell taxpayers how to get stimulus checks: People ‘need these payments ASAP’."
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