What do you do if you have not received your $600 stimulus check yet? The IRS offers some tips

The Internal Revenue Service continues to work to get the second COVID-19 pandemic relief payment to those who have not yet received it, but the agency is saying that if you have not seen the $600 direct payment by now, you may have to file for the payment on your tax return.

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The second stimulus payment provides up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples filing jointly, plus $600 per qualifying child. Payments were sent in three ways — by direct deposit automatically sent to bank accounts, via a mailed check or a mailed prepaid debit card.

A number of people who used a tax preparation service reported that they had their stimulus payment sent not to their bank accounts, but to bank accounts with numbers they did not recognize.

The unfamiliar account numbers were temporary bank accounts used by tax preparation companies to route refund loans or other banking products to customers.

The IRS issued a statement last month assuring those waiting on the checks that the payments will be redirected to the correct account number, and that the fact that they are seeing an account number that is unfamiliar is not a sign of fraud.

“The IRS and tax industry partners are taking immediate steps to redirect stimulus payments to the correct account for those affected,” the IRS website read.

“If you don’t recognize the bank account number displayed in the Get My Payment tool, it does not mean your deposits were made to the wrong account or that there is fraud. If you do not recognize the account number, it may be an issue related to how information is displayed in the tool tied to temporary accounts used for refund loans/banking products. The IRS is working to address this.

“You do not need to complete Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit,” according to the IRS statement.

“The IRS and tax industry partners are taking steps to redirect stimulus payments to the correct account for those affected. The IRS anticipates many additional taxpayers will receive payments following this effort. You don’t need to take any action as this work continues; you do not need to call the IRS, your tax provider or your financial institution.”

What if you still haven’t seen the money?

The IRS had a Jan. 15 deadline to get the payments sent out to eligible Americans. If you have not seen the payment yet, you have not missed out on the money, it just may take a little more effort to get it.

How to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit?

From the IRS:

“Eligible individuals who did not receive the full amounts of both Economic Impact Payments may claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2020 Form 1040 or 1040-SR. To determine whether you are an eligible individual or the amount of your Recovery Rebate Credit, complete the Recovery Rebate Credit Worksheet in the Instructions for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR.

“Generally, you are eligible to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit if you were a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien in 2020, cannot be claimed as a dependent of another taxpayer for tax year 2020, and have a Social Security number valid for employment that is issued before the due date of your 2020 tax return (including extensions).

“You must file Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit even if you are normally not required to file a tax return. Anyone with income of $72,000 or less can file their federal tax return electronically for free through the IRS Free File Program. Free File is a public-private partnership between the IRS and many filing and tax preparation software providers who provide their brand-name products for free. The safest and fastest way to get a tax refund is to combine electronic filing with direct deposit.”

If you qualified for a stimulus check and the IRS has sent out that payment, you should have received a letter from the agency within 15 days acknowledging that the payment has been issued. It will be mailed to your last known address and it will detail your payment information. For the second stimulus payment, the letter is called Notice 1444-B.

The IRS advises that if you are not sure if you are missing a payment, or if you are one of the people owed money from the first stimulus payment, you can use the IRS Recovery Rebate Credit Worksheet to determine how much to ask for in the credit. The worksheet is part of the instructions for the 1040 and 1040-SR forms. The Recovery Rebate Credit appears on line 30 of the form.

If you use a tax preparation service, they will walk you through the process of filing for the money.

Cox Media Group