Stimulus Check Status: New Bank Or Address? IRS Responds
This week the folks at the IRS responsible for issuing Stimulus Check money to the masses released a document. In this document, they answered a few questions about the latest payment (2 of 2) with regard to the Get My Payment tool and the status of each individual United States citizen. Earlier today we spoke about how some users will get a "Payment Status #2 – Not Available" message – now we're looking at what'll happen if you've changed bank accounts or home mailing addresses since you were given the first check back in early 2020.
Before you go too far here, you may want to drop back to the first exploration we did today on what some citizens are seeing when they use the IRS Get My Payment tool. It would appear that those citizens that get the message "Not Available" may be required to complete their IRS tax forms for the 2020 tax season and submit here in 2021 before they're able to get the second economic stimulus check payment.
Per the IRS message this week, if you have a different bank account than you did with your 2019 tax return, you may need to wait a bit longer than the average citizen. "If the second Economic Impact Payment was sent to an account that is closed or is no longer active the financial institution must , by law, return the payment to the IRS, they cannot hold and issue the payment to an individual when the account is no longer active."
If you did not receive a full Economic Impact Payment yet, the IRS advised that you should file your 2020 tax return electronically. With the electronic version of a 2020 tax return, there'll be a "Recovery Rebate Credit" available that'll speed the payment process.
It's important to note that "issues" with Economic Impact Payments are not generally the fault of any institution other than the IRS. As the IRS noted this morning, "people should visit IRS.gov for the most current information on the second round of Economic Impact Payments rather than calling the agency or their financial institutions or tax software providers."