This week, billions of dollars from the stimulus package were deposited in over 80 million accounts of Americans. While the IRS has done a pretty good job of getting this up and going, including a Get My Payment tool to help out, there are still problems surrounding this stimulus money that is keeping it from getting to many Americans who could use it.
“Where Is My Stimulus Money?!”
Link: IRS FAQ about Stimulus Money
Falling Through the Age and Dependent Cracks
There is an unfortunate area where many people are falling through the cracks right now. That is because the bill defines children as under 17 while also excluding those who are claimed as dependents from receiving their own stimulus money.
So, for example, if you have a kid in college living at home that is claimed as a dependent on your annual taxes, you will not receive the $500 for him/her. Unfortunately, because you have claimed them as a dependent on your latest tax returns, they also cannot claim the $1,200 for themselves.
This also affects those with disabilities who may be a dependent on someone else’s return but over the age of 17. There are reports that such problems may be addressed should there be another stimulus package in the coming weeks or months. But, it certainly does not help right now.
Did You Use a Tax Preparer?
If you used something like H&R Block, TurboTax or similar, your refund amount would go to them. They would then process the refund to your account – whatever you have on file with them. The good news is that you can go ahead and update your information with the Get My Payment tool if the refund has not gone through yet. This way, you can direct it to your own account.
I have heard that if you have an emerald card from H&R Block, the refund will be deposited to it.
Did You File 2018 or 2019 Taxes?
If you had not filed for 2018 or 2019 (and are not required to file), you can go online to this IRS website to fill in the information needed to process your refund. Also, if you receive Social Security or SSDI, you will get your refund but it may come as a check. To change that, you can go to this IRS website to add your direct deposit information or at least make sure your account information is correct.
If you are required to file your taxes, you will need to file for 2019 to get your payment. Here are the filing requirements.
Did You Receive a Different Amount Than Expected?
There was a story of an Indiana man that received an $8 million payout but that is definitely not going to be a mistake anyone else will have! But, maybe you did receive a deposit that was different than what you had expected.
There could be a couple of reasons for that but one big one is if you have a dependent on your 2019 taxes that was not present on your 2018 taxes. In this case, your 2019 taxes may not have been processed yet so the IRS would have used the information from your 2018 return.
This calculator was developed by Maciej Kowalski, PhD candidate and Jasmine J Mah and available at Omni Calculator
“Why am I Getting ‘Payment Status Not Available’?”
If you are one of the millions of Americans who tried out the tool on Wednesday, you may have been disappointed to find that it said your payment status was not available. Here are some things to know, direct from the IRS.
One is that the information on that account is only updated once a day. Checking too many times will lock you out for the rest of the day so just be patient and try in the morning and at night to see if your information has been updated.
Here are reasons the IRS provides as to why you may be receiving the “Payment Status Not Available” message:
- If you are not eligible for a payment (see IRS.gov on who is eligible and who is not eligible)
- If you are required to file a tax return and have not filed in tax year 2018 or 2019.
- If you recently filed your return or provided information through Non-Filers: Enter Your Payment Info on IRS.gov. Your payment status will be updated when processing is completed.
- If you are a SSA or RRB Form 1099 recipient, SSI or VA benefit recipient – the IRS is working with your agency to issue your payment; your information is not available in this app yet.
You can check the app again to see whether there has been an update to your information. Get My Payment data is updated once per day, so there’s no need to check back more frequently.
What If Your Money Went to the Wrong Account?
There are some reports that the money for some people had gone to wrong accounts and that even dead people were receiving payments. First of all, use the Get My Payment tool to check and see if your deposit was processed.
If it was, it will show the last 4 digits of your bank account used. If it is an account you do not recognize, you will need to check your information with the IRS to determine where it went. If it is a bank account that was closed, it will bounce back and the IRS will issue you a check to the address on your return. If you had not filed a return, fill in your information here.
Bottom Line
I am not a financial professional but just trying to help provide some information for the thousands of people who have found themselves here searching for information. Hopefully, this post will give some help if you had some questions. If you have other questions, leave them below and maybe some people with similar experiences will be able to help out.
We only received $1200, we filed married, missing $1200. Why?
Was 2019 the first year you filed as married? If so, they may not have processed it from last year and used your 2018 filing.
Other than that, I would not be sure why that would happen.
The government now’s I got direct deposit account at PNC Bank that how revive my SSI payment once a month I wondering why stimulat payment have hit direct deposit account PNC Bank yet starting wonder why
I received 1200 in direct deposit…I have a child who is almost 3. I expected 1700 could it be that my mother who claimed my daughter in 2018 is the reason I didn’t receive the full amount. Btw…mom only received 1200 on her stimulus amount too.
It said my check was going to be sent out to me may 1st I still haven’t got it.what’s going on??
Mine status stills says payment is scheduled for May 1st. Bot my letter in the mail two weeks ago. I was surprised it said it would be a check since I get my SocSec payment through direct deposit. Phone and FAQ say letter is mailed after the payment is processed. Still no payment received and no way to find out what is going on. e.g did it get crushed by the PO or the check processing site? dropped off at the wrong house? Is sitting somewhere in transit? would be nice to know if someone else picked it up and deposited it.
Will the Get my payment eventually tell you if you aren’t getting a stimulus check? Like if a debt gets it or child support? Or will it just keep saying payment status not available?
From what I have heard, it should eventually be updated with all the records to tell you what will happen with your stimulus payment.
Since day one I havent been able to get into Its tool everytime says incorrect info!!I did go threw Jackson Hewitt and got the advance and it did go to the american serve card! I understand this is a problem but I dont u understand why I cant get in to change my banking Info since april 15! I have tried everything from caps locks on to everything ppl has suggested to this day still say incorrect info and I have my tax papers right I front of me! Cant get ahold of JH or IRS! I will nvr use JH again but for the mean time I need to get my own banking info in IRS wheres my payment! Plz help me! This has consumed me for the last 2 weeks and I’m beyond aggravated! Thankyou Tracy Bonham
I am so sorry. It seems like you did the things I would have suggested so I do not have any other information for you right now!
i am not required to file taxes but registered through TurboTax over 2 weeks ago and provided direct deposit information and still haven’t received my stimulus check! any idea on when it will be sent?
Did you check with the Get My Payment site? Also, use the Non-Filer’s link above to handle this directly with the IRS since having one more link in the way could slow down the process.
What happen with those who cannot use online Id verification tool and the irs and the tas advocates aren’t answering the phones lines to resolve the issue?? What can we do??
At this point, I do not know the answer to that but I will try and find something out!
I have a family of 4, my husband, my self, a 13 year old and a 7 year old! We got $2,900, we should have gotten $3,400! We did not get paid for 1 child!! Why??? We have filed for both kids since they were born lol! No reason both shouldn’t have been in our money!!
You did get 1200 for you and 1200 for your husband. The children only get 500 each for a grand total of 2900.00 Which is what you received.
Ashley is correct – you would get the $2,900 as the correct amount since it is $500 per child.
I did not get it for one of my children but it is because they had not processed my 2019 taxes yet and she was just born last year.
Is Jena not right that she should get $3400. It’s $500 per child isn’t it?
I’ve always filed and always claimed my daughter, who is 16. I fall under the income threshold and received $1200 but not $500 for my daughter. How can I get an answer about this?
Hey I was wondering why I didn’t receive the 500$ for each kid?? When I been claiming then all there lives?? I only
How old are they?
5 yrs old and 9 yrs old
I put my information in on how much I got back on taxes an it keeps telling me it’s wrong then Locked me out
Hmm, if it was the exact amount and information, it shouldn’t have done that. I would try again Monday to see if they update it.
This is my second date an irs still sending my refund to Mega Bank how do i get my refund please an thanks
I’m 70 yrs old, I receive S.S. and disability, will I get a check for 1200.00
If you are not claimed as a dependent by anyone, yes, you will get it!
When will they be mailing out checks that went into closed accounts
Checks will be going out, starting this week. But, it will be sent based on the adjusted gross income or income amount for those that would be on the lower end so people at the lower amounts should get their checks first.
There sending my money to a bank account that I do not have I receive ssd I have a direct express debit card since 2006 why is my check going to this account the get my payment app says it’s going to this account on April 29 what should I do?
Every time I try to go to get my payment after entering all of my Information it tells me that I have to wait 24 hours because my information was tried too many times. I o my try once a day and that’s early in the mornings!
Give it a try again tomorrow afternoon. They update once per day and it should give you more than one attempt but might as well make that one time count and try later in the day tomorrow!
I filed 2019 & 2018, married filed jointly with one dependent, my daughter in high school but she is 17. I didn’t receive a refund in those tax years. So my banking information was not on my taxes so IRS does not have. Last night I added my banking direct deposit on Get My Payment. How long should it be now for the stimulus check? I did my taxes through free tax USA, will it go directly to them or me?
I would imagine that you should get it by direct deposit this week. If you had not received a refund through the taxes filed through Free Tax USA and you were able to successfully add your banking information, it should go directly to you.
What, about those of us that, are on total disability? When will we get our checks? And is there a site we can go to to check on the status of ours?
I’m on ssi I do not file a tax return ,I do not make enough .but I do have direct deposit of my funds ,when will I get my stimulus check
I would imagine you should see it deposited this week.
I’m on ssd I do not file a tax return because I don’t make enough,I do get a 1099 and I do have direct deposit,when can I expect my stimulus money
They are stilling doing direct deposits so I would imagine you could see it this week.
I have not filed my 2019 tax return yet, but I did file a 2018 return. When I go to the where’s my payment tool I get the payment status not available. Why am I receiving this when I don’t fall into any of the categories the IRS says could be the reason you’d receive that message?
They are still updating the information with this tool so give it another try this week. It was not supposed to have been available until Friday so they got it out ahead of time and are still backending the information.
When I call my emerald card it say my payment ya been delivered? Why? Where is my money?
When was that? I saw that it is taking a little bit for the money to come from the preparers since this is very different from the usual tax process.
I can’t file on the Get My Payment because I printed my user ID , my new password that I have never used before , but said that ” can’t find your user ID and passwords. I paid tax 2019 ,but I don’t know how to file form stimulus checks. I do have state ID, and SSI, and I have bank accounts,but I have lower income and I don’t work because I take care my daughter kids. Couldn’t I receive stimulus check or not
Did you get a refund for your 2019 tax return? If it was direct deposit, you should receive the stimulus amount that way. If not, they will begin sending out checks this week so it could be a week or more still.
I filed my 2018 and 2019 tax return via direct deposit and all my info is correct and I am eligible I made less than 10,000 and I did put my 3yr old as my dependent and every time I check irs website it says payment info unavailable and it wont let me put in my bank info even though I know they have it. I dont know what to do my family is depending on this money we cannot survive anymore without it
I keep putting my SS# in n it keeps saying no information. I get my tax refund deposited the exact same way I have been for the last 4 years . I haven’t gotten any money n the portal says my information is wrong!!
It says it is wrong or that there is no information? If it is the no information, they are still updating the system so give it a try again tomorrow afternoon.
When will I get my refund back I am disabled
Does the IRS have your bank deposit information? If not, make sure you use the links above for Non-Filers and update your information to get the money.
It said those of us on disability didn’t have to do anything like the non filer info.. Our checks are, automatically deposited every mth n has nothing to do with the irs
That’s right – unless you have any children under the age of 17. That is when you would fill out the Non-Filer’s form.
We qualify for the stimulus, we filed our 2018 taxes, we are not on any social security. Yet we keep getting the payment status not available. We do not have direct deposit with IRS, we always have to pay taxes. That is why I am trying to put in my direct deposit info. Why do we keep getting this?
They are still updating the information so give it a try again tomorrow. They are not supposed to start sending out checks until later this week so you should be ok if you are able to get in and update it this week.
I’m on ss I have been for 7 yrs I have direct express when will I get my money
OK I’m waiting
I filed with H&R block 2018 and had my refund put on an emerald card. That I no longer have. But I check my status for my stimulus check and it said it was sent April 15th to a bank account that I have never seen. Also that does not match my emerald card number from 2018. Where is my money being sent to? Now it is saying that it will be sent to the same account I dont recognize on April 24th . I dont know who to contact or what to do about this.
April 15 said I’d get it in my account which is a tax preparer account. They rejected it and now there’s a new date of april24th being sent to the same account. How many times are they going to keep sending it back to the same old account?
You are sure it is headed to the same account? Did you update it through the Get My Payment tool?
I pay every month on back child support faithfully so why will I not get a check.?
The tool said you will not get a check? I am not sure what happens with back support and this current stimulus check. Sorry about that.
Ok so i cant figure out how to get back onto the site to give them my correct bank info. I gave them my old bank info on accident so i need to fix that. Please help me do that
I did my taxes its completed but I needed to bring in my 1040 had an appointment but it was canceled and cant contact no one my tax money is there but not issued to me how will this effect my stimulus check got an email giving information for direct deposit on my jacksonhewitt card
I am so ssi haven’t got my stimulus check why
So I recieved a payment for $1200 on April 15th but I have 3 qualified children ages 14, 10 and 7 that I should have recieved an additional $1500 for…how can I find out why I didn’t recueve this payment and if I will be?
When you receive the letter from the IRS shortly, you should have contact information in there on what to do. I am not sure in your situation why they didn’t pay out. I didn’t receive it for one of mine but it is because she was born last year and they had not processed my (paper) return yet.
Iam also on ssi havent got mine n there some other that hasnt got there yet
I filed with the non filers form. On the 25th of April it informed my return had been accepted but I haven’t received my check . I am having it sent to cash app could that cause a delay ?
It could, I am not sure how they process those. Hopefully, you will get it soon! Keep checking the Get My Payment tool to see if it updates with when they send your money.
I’ve checked a lot of forums for this question with no answers so maybe you will have the answer. I filed 2018 and received refund direct deposit, for 2019 I used Emerald Card for my refund. Went to the Get My Payment tool and updated my bank acct info and when checking it, it said status unavailable but would be deposited to my bank acct ending in **** (with correct bank acct number). After it was updated it said my check would be mailed on May 4th but according to my income bracket or AGI I shouldn’t have my check mailed until the end of June! Why would it have me update my bank info and say it would be direct deposit into my acct only to update and change to a check being mailed, and earlier than it’s supposed to be??
What information was there before you updated? If it was bank information, the system should not have accepted your new bank info as they said they are trying to protect against fraud. Otherwise, it may have just triggered the system to prompt a check if it thought you should have already received the direct deposit. But, I cannot believe this system would be that smart! 🙂 I would check again today. Maybe it will update to say that it was actually initiating a direct deposit instead of mailing a check.
I haven’t received my stimulus payment yet and I sent in my bank info , it said I’d receive it on April 30th and still no payment, but I filed on my return injured spouse to protect my return money and yes I have already filed 2019 return back in February. So what do I do now? Thanks
I’m on welfare and I get food stamps with 2 children under 18 am I eligible
I’m on S.S.I. but I was very sick when I first was put on S.S.I. so I made a choice for my brother to be my payee beneficiary so on my Direct Express Card is his name. I have not been able to find out if this will affect me, he doesn’t claim me, we live in different houses, totally different addresses…so will I receive my $1,200 check? I have no children I need to claim and I’m 43 yrs old. I’ve been collecting S.S.I. for over 5yrs now. It’s just more of a hassle to get my brother taken off as my payee beneficiary so I just left it alone but now I’m worried this may impact me and I may not get my stimulus check. When SOCIAL SECURITY sends paperwork they send it to both him at his address and to me at my address, neither of our addresses have changed. Can someone PLEASE give me some insight…thank you!
Mine was suppose to be deposited May 6. Nothing in the bank or in the mail. Bank has nothing. Can’t get a hold of IRS. Bank says the IRS has a 15 digit tracking number. No information on IRS for that. I did my 2019 taxes.
I recieve my 1200 but i didnt get my kids… I have two kids.. One thats 11yrs okd n the other one is 10yrs old his disable as well..
But i didnt get there money.. What can i do to get it..
Yes i file the nonfiler app.
But nothing…..