A stimulus check is a tax credit given to millions of Americans after the global pandemic had destroyed our industries as well as many people’s lives.
To try and get the economy moving again, President Joe Biden is giving the majority of Americans this tax credit to keep them out of poverty and encourage them to spend money.
But as great as this scheme is, what happens when things go wrong? We are here to help you get the money you are entitled to.
Am I Entitled To A Stimulus Check?
If you are an individual with an AGI (which stands for Adjusted Gross Income) of £75,000 or less, you are entitled to a stimulus check.
If you are the head of household with an AGI of $112,500 or less, you are entitled to a stimulus check.
If you are a couple with a joint AGI of $150,000 or less, you are entitled to a stimulus check.
These are your annual earning figures, and the majority of American households fit into these categories.
What Happens If My Stimulus Check Goes To A Closed Account?
Stimulus checks, despite the name, do not get sent to you via a letter and check. Instead, they get sent to you via direct deposit. This means you can get your money sooner, but if your information wasn’t up to date with the IRS, then there might be a problem.
The IRS uses tax return information from both 2018 and 2019 to confirm everyone’s bank details. However, some people hadn’t completed their forms.
In addition, between 2018 and 2021, some American citizens had closed their bank information and didn’t update the IRS.
If that sounds familiar, then this might be what happened to you. Don’t worry, though, because if the check went to a closed account, then your bank would have rejected it, and the funds would have returned to the IRS as unpaid.
Once this happens, the IRS will go down their second route, which is sending you a physical check instead.
If you have moved house and not updated the IRS, you should make sure that your mail is forwarded to not miss the check. After that, you need to update your mailing address with the U.S Postal Service.
The IRS only sends out so many checks a week, so if you haven’t received your physical copy yet, it probably hasn’t been issued. Check out the status of your check here.
What Happens If My Stimulus Check Goes To The Wrong Account?
You may have realized that your stimulus check didn’t go to a closed account but the wrong account altogether.
We will tell you how this happened in a moment, but first, you need to know how to get your money.
Regardless of why your stimulus check is now in the wrong account, there is a way to fix the issue. If your stimulus check went to the wrong account, then the best thing for you to do is contact the bank which has received the deposit.
You can find that information on the IRS status. You then want to ask that bank if they can reverse the payment.
If you do this, the payment will go back to the IRS, and you will have to wait for a paper check to be sent to your address.
Another option is to claim the stimulus payment through your tax return.
Why Did My Stimulus Check Go To The Wrong Account?
It seems as though some company confusion has hurt people who filed their taxes through services like TurboTax and H&R Block. These companies are preparation services that help people file their tax returns correctly.
However, because the IRS didn’t have access to the direct deposit information which was kept hidden by these preparation services, when they sent the stimulus check it arrived at the wrong location.
The preparation services section says that this is due to the IRS not using the information correctly.
H&R Block told TIME Magazine that the IRS “has bank account information for all H&R Block clients who received tax refunds electronically, and is determining when and how stimulus payments are distributed. [The IRS] has created confusion by not always using clients’ final destination bank account information for stimulus payments,”
No matter the real reason for the issue, both the preparation services and the IRS are determined to get the stimulus checks to the correct location, so contact either party for any additional help you may need.
