I Got A Payment Status Not Available Message
Many checking on their second stimulus check were seeing a message that said “Payment Status #2 – Not Available.” The IRS has indicated that these individuals will not receive a stimulus check by direct deposit or mail and they will have to file their 2020 tax return to claim their “Recovery Rebate Credit.” See below for instructions on claiming the rebate on your tax return.
These messages have now disappeared and will be replaced by information about the third payment.
Waiting For A Check That Never Came
While millions of families received their stimulus money, nearly a half a million are still waiting. Here’s one of their stories.
Blog Post
Gabriel Zucker
Deborah DeMuro was relieved to learn in April that she was eligible for $1,700 in stimulus checks from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act $1,200 for herself, and $500 for her son. DeMuro, who is disabled and lives on a fixed income of about $1,500 per month, urgently needed the money prices were skyrocketing during the lockdown, and bills for her family including her disabled husband were piling up. However, a technical problem coupled with a too-soon Internal Revenue Service deadline made getting the entire stimulus check harder than expected. Today, the family is still waiting for their relief– without a solution in sight.
DeMuro, who received her $1,200 automatically, learned on social media that in order to receive the $500 payment for her son, she would need to register for it via an IRS Non-Filer portal by May 5. It was a short turnaround, but she wasnt worried. It still took her six tries to get what she calls a complicated and frustrating form filed out since every time you try once, the system locks you out for 24 hours. When she finally completed the process, her claim was rejected. The IRS said it was because she didnt supply her IRS Identity Protection PIN.
Didn’t Get The Full Third Payment Claim The 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit
You may be eligible to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2021 federal tax return if you didn’t get a third Economic Impact Payment or got less than the full amount.
In early 2022, we’ll send Letter 6475 to the address we have on file for you confirming the total amount of your third Economic Impact Payment and any plus-up payments you received for tax year 2021. You will need this information to accurately calculate your 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit when you file your 2021 federal tax return in 2022.
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You Make Too Much Money
You won’t get a third stimulus check at all if your income is too high. Every eligible American starts with a $1,400 third stimulus check “base amount.” The base amount goes up to $2,800 for married couples filing a joint tax return. Then, for each dependent in your family, an extra $1,400 will be added to the base amount.
However, everyone won’t get the full amount. As with the first two stimulus payments, third-round stimulus checks will be “phased-out” for people with an adjusted gross income above a certain amount on their 2019 or 2020 tax return. If you filed your most recent tax return as a single filer, your third stimulus check will be phased-out if your AGI is $75,000 or more. That threshold increases to $112,500 for head-of-household filers, and to $150,000 for married couples filing a joint return.
Third-round stimulus checks are reduced to zero pretty quickly. They are completely phased out for single filers with an AGI above $80,000, head-of-household filers with an AGI over $120,000, and joint filers with an AGI exceeding $160,000.
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Not everyone is eligible for a third stimulus check. In a nutshell, you generally don’t qualify for a third-round payment if:
- You could be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return
- You don’t have a Social Security number or
- You’re a nonresident alien.
If the IRS determines that you’re not eligible for a third-round stimulus check, then you won’t get one.
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You Haven’t Received A Direct
To begin with, the IRS doesn’t automatically have taxpayers’ bank account information on file. If you’ve received a federal tax refund in 2018 or 2019 — the most recent tax filing is being used as the determining factor for stimulus payouts — then chances are that the IRS has the appropriate information to direct deposit your Economic Impact Payment. But if you’ve opted to receive a paper check or have owed the federal government money in recent years, they won’t have your bank account info on file.
What’s more, the IRS can’t access bank account information it may have previously used to withdraw money from your bank account. For example, if you’ve paid a federal tax bill online and provided your bank account number and routing number, the IRS will not be able to access this information to direct deposit your stimulus payout.
In other words, you’re potentially waiting for a paper check, which’ll be disbursed based on income.
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How To File A Tax Return To Claim Your Credit
If you have to file a tax return to claim your credit, its easiest to submit your return electronically. If you make under $72,000, you are eligible to e-file your taxes for free. The IRS has a website with a list of free e-file partners. Select one of those partners, and it will walk you through the process of filing your return.
If you already received some of your past stimulus payments, you will need to know the amount you were paid in order to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit. As the IRS explains, you can sign into or create an online account to find out if you already received any of your stimulus credit so you can include that information when you file your return.
Its also important to note that when you file a tax return to claim your second check, the amount you receive will be based on the income you report on that 2020 return. For people who already got their payments last year, the IRS used 2019 or 2018 tax return data . Thats because the agency didnt have 2020 information yet. Since youll be requesting your credit by filing your 2020 return, the IRS will have the correct amount of income for last year.
In some cases, this could help you get a larger payment if you have a new dependent in 2020 that you didnt have when you filed your most recent return, or if your income fell last year and you became eligible for the full check when previously you wouldnt have been based on 2018 or 2019 earnings.
Didnt Get The Full First And Second Payments Claim The 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit
If you didnt get the full amount of the first or second Economic Impact Payments, you may be eligible to claim the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit by filing a 2020 tax return. The third Economic Impact Payment will not be used to calculate the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit.
For the latest updates, check IRS.gov/coronavirus.
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How To Claim The Recovery Rebate Credit
If you did not receive your first or second stimulus payment, or if it was for the wrong amount, you’ll need to file a tax return for the 2020 tax year . You’ll file Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR . You’ll need your Notice 1444, Your Economic Impact Payment from the IRS when you file. You should have gotten your first Notice 1444 sometime last spring or summer, and you should have gotten your second one in February 2021. You’ll need the amount of the payment in the letter when you file your tax return in 2021.
If you don’t receive your third stimulus payment, or if it was for the wrong amount, you’ll need to file a tax return for the 2021 tax year . You’ll file Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR . You’ll need your Notice 1444, Your Economic Impact Payment from the IRS when you file. You’ll need the amount of the payment in the letter when you file your tax return in 2021.
You can take the Recovery Rebate Credit for any rebate amount that is more than the economic impact payment that you received by completing line 30 of Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR. The instructions for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR include a worksheet you can use to calculate the amount of the credit you are eligible for.
You Just Started Getting Social Security Or Railroad Retirement Benefits
Although most Social Security and railroad retirement recipients can get their benefits even if they didn’t file a 2018 or 2019 return and didn’t use the form for non-filers, that’s not the case for everyone.
If you just started getting your retirement benefits in 2020, the IRS won’t have information from your benefits provider. You’ll be in the same situation as every other non-filer and will need to use the IRS form to let the service know you’re entitled to the stimulus money.
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Did You Check The Irs Tracking Tool Get My Payment
After determining that you’re eligible, our first suggestion is to visit the IRS’ online tool designed to track the status of a 2020 payment. Generally, it should tell you when your check will be processed and how you’ll receive it . If this Get My Payment portal isn’t giving you information you understand or said your check is on the way and you haven’t received it, you may need to eventually report the discrepancy to the IRS .
Eligibility For A ‘plus
You can estimate how much money the IRS owes your household for the third stimulus check. Just make sure to triple-check that you meet the qualifications, including the income limits.
Because of the overlap with tax season 2020, many people may receive some, but not all, of their allotted amount. If your income changed in 2020, in some cases, the IRS may owe you more money than you received if the income figure used to calculate your payment from your tax returns in 2018 or 2019 is less in 2020. Likewise, if you now have a new dependent, such as a new baby, you may be owed more money.
The IRS is automatically sending “plus-up payments” to make up the difference. If you don’t get one, you may need to claim the missing money another way later in 2021 or even in 2022, since tax season is officially over now.
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What To Do If One Of The Three Stimulus Checks Hasn’t Arrived
About 15 days after the IRS sends out your check, you should receive a letter from the agency confirming the payment. When the first round of stimulus checks went out last year, that letter included two hotline phone numbers because thousands of agents were available to help. But with the second and third rounds of checks, the IRS changed its tune, and these phone numbers may be disconnected.
Here are common scenarios that might indicate you need to look into your stimulus payment:
- If you’re one of the millions of people who qualified for the first stimulus check but never got it.
- If your second stimulus check has still not arrived.
- If you got a letter from the IRS saying your third check was sent, but never received the payment. Or, if the IRS Get My Payment portal said your payment was sent, but you didn’t get it.
- If you got some of your stimulus money from any payment, but not all of it.
You should also confirm you’re qualified to get the stimulus payment, since not everyone who received a previous check is qualified this time. If you think it’s time to take action, read for more options.
I Got A Notice 1444 In The Mail Should I Keep It
Yes. Notice 1444 specifies the payment amount you received for the first Economic Impact Payment in 2020, while Notice 1444-B will note the amount of your second stimulus payment. If you need to complete the Economic Recovery Rebate Credit worksheet on your 2020 tax return, youll need to refer to Notice 1444 and Notice 1444-B for the amount you received. Even if you received the full stimulus payment amount, retain this notice with your 2020 tax records.
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Adding Trump’s Name To Paper Checks Has Delayed Their Issuance
Feel free to file this under the “no, I’m being serious category,” but low-income Americans with AGIs under $10,000 may see their paper stimulus checks delayed by the IRS for an oddball reason — namely, to put President Trump’s name in the memo section of these checks.
In an interview with Yahoo! News, Chad Hooper, president of the Professional Managers Association, noted that any change to the way Treasury checks are printed typically leads to delays. With paper checks being issued from the bottom up, based on income, these delays could most notably impact the first group of prospective paper check recipients — those with AGIs of less than $10,000.
It’s worth noting that if adding Trump’s name to Economic Impact Payments does lead to delays, they’ll be short-lived.
But First Make Sure To Double
You may want to double-check that you qualified for the second payment before trying to file for the rebate credit as there were some differences between who was eligible for the second stimulus payment compared to the first. As the Peter G. Peterson Foundation explains, individuals earning more than $87,000, single parents making more than $124,500, and married couples earning more than $174,000 were not eligible for the second round of payments. The income caps for the first stimulus payments, meanwhile, were higher at $99,000 for individuals, $136,500 for single parents, and $198,000 for married couples. And for more on eligibility, find out Why You May Not Get the Third Stimulus Check.
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The Irs Sent You A Confirmation Letter But You Haven’t Received Your Check
A handful of CNET readers report the IRS sent them a letter confirming their payment but they’ve not received their check.
“Last week I got a letter in the mail saying that I received my payment. But, no, I have not,” a CNET reader reported after receiving the confirmation letter the IRS sends out 15 days after it sends the payment.
We asked the IRS how it will handle payments it reports have been sent but that people say are missing, and will update this story with the agency’s response.
What If Your Stimulus Check Payment Never Came Do This
Here are your options if your check has not arrived and you want to be sure it eventually does.
Key point: There are ways to check if you were eligible for the payment and to trace its status. It is also possible to become eligible by filing your tax return provided your circumstances meet the law’s requirements.
Following the announcement of a third round of stimulus payments in March, most eligible American families have received their payments. If you are on Social Security and part of the SSDI or SSI programs, your third stimulus check will likely have arrived by now.
The stimulus has already been deposited in most Americans bank accounts via direct deposit, or added to their Direct Express cards, and as of April 9th, checks were also on their way. Workers from select industries, such as railroad workers, as well as people receiving VA benefits, should also begin to receive additional payments, as the IRS has stated that it began to send out money on April 14th.
This first appeared earlier and is being reposted due to reader interest.
What To Do
If you have not received payments yet in May, it might be necessary to request a payment trace. The IRS has a tracking tool on its website, detailing the status of each persons stimulus money if this fails, it is possible to request a payment trace on the same site, although this could take longer and has more restrictions.
Mail Issue?
Image: Reuters.
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No Check Yet Take These Steps
Those who have not received a check by now who believe they should have may want to consider taking several actions.
First, revisit the IRS rules to make sure you are, in fact, eligible to receive a check based on your income and filing status, among other factors. If you are over 17 and were claimed as a dependent by someone else, for example, you do not qualify for a check.
Consult the IRS Get My Payment tool to see if your status was updated, or call the phone number the agency has set up for queries: 800-919-9835.
Also, consider contacting your bank to see if it received a deposit.
Finally, if you know a payment was issued but never made its way to you, consider putting a trace on it.
Conic also recommends contacting your local congressional representative, which she credits for helping her finally receive her money last week.
“They need to make their congressmen work for them,” she said. “They elected their congressmen.”
Do You Need To File Another Form With The Irs If Your Money Hasnt Arrived
As was the case with the first check, if you filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return or receive government benefits, the IRS should automatically send your second check for $600 without you having to do anything.
If, however, youre a US citizen or permanent resident, had a gross income in 2019 under $12,200 or $24,400 as a married couple and didnt file a return for 2018 or 2019, you may have needed to give the IRS a bit of information before they can process your payment. If you missed the Nov. 21 deadline to use the IRS Non-Filers tool, you would likely have to claim that money on your next tax return in the form of a Recovery Rebate Credit, described above.
As always, be sure to contact a tax professional for advice and answer any questions when filing your return.
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